Many Dark Days
by Torey Hylton
Summary: This is the plot of Final Fantasy 7 written in my own words. Dialogue is roughly the same, though subject to be slightly altered by me.
1. Beacon of Hope

The young woman seemed mesmerised by the beautiful yet eerie glow of the orbs of Mako energy rising from the tiny furnace that she was facing. Her face glowed and her beautiful large eyes shined as the energy doused her in its warmth. Then, she turned and left. Her heels clacked against the solid ground, echoing against the dark walls of the alley.

She wore her mousy brown hair in a long plait which swayed as she moved through the darkness. Her dress was rose pink in colour. It was long and had a split in the middle which exposed part of her left leg. She also wore a small red bolero cardigan and carried a basket of colourful flowers in her hand.

She left the mouth of the alley and stood facing a road. She seemed too pretty for her glum surroundings. Cars and trucks zoomed past her and people moved across the cityscape, swallowed up by the darkness all around. The road was cobbled and dirty, and likely had years of grime coated on its surface. A lit up sign covered the building wall to her right. On it, the word Loveless glowed. Goblin's Bar stood to her left, an establishment that was aptly named, for all the ruffians of this part of the city liked to gather there.

It was dark, dreary and dirty and the young woman stood out, like a shining beacon of hope. The city was no place for a kind flower lady to make a living. No place at all…


	2. It Begins

Cloud watched the view with uncaring eyes as the train pulled into the station. It was dirty, dark and unappealing. He grunted and shook his head as the train screeched to a halt. He had reached his destination. He got to his feet and watched as his female comrade jumped off the train in a display of extravagancy. He shook his head again and followed her.

His comrade had already made her mark on the guards that were patrolling the station. One was writhing around on the floor, screaming in agony, while the other guard was being pummelled by his assailant's vicious, quick-as-lightning kicks; yet Cloud was still as unimpressed as he was before and merely shrugged.

Just then, another comrade jumped out of the train. He was a large, black man with rippling muscles and a crew-cut and, alarmingly, he had had his left arm replaced with a large gatling gun, for reasons that Cloud did not know and did not care to know, either. He turned to Cloud.

"C'mon newcomer. Follow me," he shouted as he ran up some steps.

Cloud followed him only to be intercepted by more guards. He withdrew his large sword and cut them down with ease. He had battled much fiercer foes in his time. He moved past the bloodied bodies and into the area above. He didn't care to look back.

His comrades were all waiting for him at the gate to the Mako Reactor and Cloud scoffed at the sight of them. They looked less like professional terrorists and more like common thugs.

"Wow!" exclaimed one of them. He was a skinny young man with olive skin and black hair. He had a thin, dark red bandana tied around his hair and wore green overalls. "You used to be in SOLDIER all right! Not everyday ya find one in a group like AVALANCHE."

The woman piped up, "SOLDIER? Aren't they the enemy? What's he doing with us in AVALANCHE?"

"Hold it Jessie," he replied sternly. "He _was_ in SOLDIER. He quit them and now is one of us."

He turned to Cloud, running his finger across his nose casually as if to scratch an itch.

"Didn't catch your name…"

It all seemed too trivial to Cloud. Did it really matter about being on first name terms with each other? They had a job to do together, that was it. They weren't enemies. They weren't friends. They were just working together.

"…Cloud," he eventually replied, albeit hesitantly.

"Cloud, eh?" I'm…"

"I don't care what your names are. Once this job's over… I'm outta here."

Just as the scrawny man tried to answer back, the large, muscled man came darting up the stairs with surprising agility, his gun arm waving in the air dangerously.

"The hell you all doin'! I thought I told you never to move in a group! Our target's the North Mako Reactor. We'll meet on the bridge in front of it."

In complete silence, the group left through the gate, as if answering back to the man would be detrimental to their health. Cloud was beginning to like the guy; a little, at least. The man turned to Cloud and looked at him with eyes that could cut steel.

"Ex-SOLDIER, huh? Don't trust ya!"

He discovered that the man's name was Barret. That was about all he knew about him, and all he cared to know at this point.

Cloud looked up into the sky and saw a huge building looming overhead. It was the Shinra Headquarters. Midgar's elite all worked there. With bulging pay-packets, they were able to live at the top of the city, breathing in the glorious fresh air and admiring the views all around them. Of course, from such a high vantage point, they were also able to keep tabs on the world beneath them, making sure that the 'scum' of lower Midgar never rose to the surface. Cloud neither hated nor liked them. In fact, like most things, he was indifferent to them, even when he was a part of the ranks. _Just a job_, he'd say. That was all there was to it.

He followed Barret through the gate. A fat man wearing metal shoulder guards, brown leather straps running vertically down his stomach, blue trousers and a red bandana stood in front of then, at the foot of the bridge.

"I'll secure the escape passage. Concentrate on the mission, Cloud." He looked towards the Mako Reactor. "Geez, we're really gonna blow this huge furnace up? This'll be something to see!"

Cloud ignored him and followed the others into the heart of the Mako reactor where the real mission awaited.


	3. The Mission

"Yo!" exclaimed Barret somewhat cheerfully. "This your first time in a reactor?"

"No. After all, I did work for Shinra, y'know."

Barret pointed towards the depth of the reactor which was glowing an eerie green colour.

"The planet's full of Mako Energy," he said. "People here use it every day. It's the life source of the planet. But Shinra keeps suckin' the blood out with these machines."

"I'm not here for a lecture," said Cloud impatiently. "Let's just hurry."

"That's it!" huffs Barret. "You're comin' with me from now on!"

The two unlikely comrades travelled through the reactor. Cloud was undeterred by how vast the reactor was but Barret seemed to be mesmerised by the pools of green liquid that lay at its depths. Cloud didn't understand how people could get transfixed over such things, especially in the middle of a mission. In Cloud's mind, it was best to just focus on the job you were supposed to be doing.

Cloud and Barret met Jessie and the scrawny guy deeper inside the reactor, standing next to a locked door. They appeared smug.

"Biggs and I got the code for this door," she said.

Biggs grinned and then started jamming the number pad with his fingers.

"Code deciphered."

The team headed through the unlocked door and into another corridor. Cloud sighed at the sight of another locked door, but he knew all along that it wasn't going to be easy. He just hoped the geeks in the party knew how to unlock _this _door too.

"Think how many of our people risked their lives, just for this code…" said Biggs egotistically. Cloud was indifferent to him before. Now, it was plain dislike. He was very annoying.

"Code deciphered," said Jessie.

Cloud, Barret and Jessie continued on into the bowels of the reactor, while Biggs stayed at the door to keep guard. Cloud was quite thankful for it. They eventually came to an elevator and stepped inside.

"Push that button over there!" said Jessie, pointing to a shiny button on the far wall.

Cloud pushed the button and the elevator whirred into life.

"Little by little the reactors'll drain out all the life. And that'll be that," said Barret with a hint of disgust rising into his throat.

"It's not my problem" replied Cloud coldly.

"The planet's dyin', Cloud!"

Not caring about Barret's feelings or the welfare of the planet, Cloud replied, "The only thing I care about is finishin' this job before security and the Roboguards come."

Barret looked at Cloud, his dark eyes full of anger. He grimaced, turned away, and shook. Cloud wondered what his damn problem was. Whatever it was, he certainly wasn't going to try and make amends. He came here to do a job, and that was what he was going to do.

The elevator came to a sudden stop and everyone got out. Jessie stayed by the elevator to make sure no one else tried to use it, while Cloud and Barret entered the deepest part of the reactor, the core.

"When we blow this place, this ain't gonna be nothin' more than a hunka junk," said Barret. He looked at Cloud and said, "Cloud, you set the bomb."

"Shouldn't you do it?"

"Jus' do it! I gotta watch to make sure you don't pull nothin'."

"Fine, be my guest."

Cloud walked towards the bomb when he suddenly felt very faint. He gripped his head with his hands as an eerie voice drifted through his ears.

"Watch out! This isn't just a reactor!" it shouted.

"…What's wrong?" asked Barret.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong, Cloud? Hurry it up!" Barret boomed.

"Yeah, sorry," Cloud replied, unsure as to what had just happened.

Cloud walked to the end of the walkway and looked at the bomb. It was a tricky mechanism for a newbie, but would be a piece of cake for someone like him. He had done things like this many times before, but not as a terrorist. However, he felt no different now than when he was in SOLDIER. He crossed wires and pushed buttons. The bomb had been set. An alarm began to sound and red lights flashed all around them.

"Heads up, here they come!" yelled Barret as he threw his gun arm into the air and adopted a fighting stance.

Cloud whirled around when he heard a huge thunderous roar from behind him. Heading towards them was a huge metal scorpion. The creature was copper coloured and about five times the size of Barret. Its tail rose into the air and shook and then it advanced; it scuttled down the walkway at breakneck speed. Barret emitted a war cry and shot the beast with his gatling gun, but the Guard Scorpion unleashed its own attack from its enormous tail, knocking them both to the ground.

"Better to attack… when its tail is down!" Barret yelled as he massaged his right arm. Cloud noticed that there was a gash across it where the scorpion's laser had struck. The tail buzzed and vibrated and Cloud braced himself for another attack, but instead the tail lowered, giving Cloud an opportunity to strike it.

He conjured a bolt spell and aimed it at the Guard Scorpion's metal body. It screeched as the lightning tore across its metal shell, cracking it in places. Then the body exploded into a thousand pieces, shrapnel flying through the air and some parts missing Cloud by mere inches.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Cloud shouted as he helped Barret to his feet.

They hurried through the lower bowels of the Mako reactor, the sirens cutting into the air and making them all too aware that time was not on their side. They met up with Jessie.

"You all right?" he asked her. She was sitting on the grated floor and looked worried and a little bit hurt.

"My leg got stuck," she said.

Cloud quickly knelt down by her side and encouraged her to twist her foot while he tried to pry the rungs open. It wasted a lot of time, but Cloud wasn't going to leave the reactor and willingly leave his comrades here, no matter how much they annoyed him. Finally, Jessie was freed.

"Thanks!"

They pressed on and met Biggs further up.

"Let's go!" he yelled, and tapped in the numbers for the coded door.

"Code deciphered," stated Jessie.

Cloud shook his head. Did they _really_ need to say that every time they opened a coded door? There was no time to dwell on it. Time was running out, and fast.

They ran through the door.

"Alright, be careful," Jessie told them as they made their way to the other coded door. Biggs jammed the numbers into the pad and finished it off with a "Code deciphered."

Cloud shook his head. They met with Wedge on the bridge and ran towards the exit with only a minute to spare. From behind him, Cloud heard Jessie scream. Turning around, he was shocked to see that she had fallen from the bridge and was hanging on for dear life with her fingers. He ran over to her and pulled her back up and then they darted from the Mako reactor just as the detonator struck zero.

The air vibrated with sound and heat as the reactor exploded behind them. Cloud took one last glance back and saw that the entire area was alight. There was another bang that knocked him off his feet. He cried out, picked himself off the ground, and ran.


	4. My Butt's on Fire!

He didn't know where he was, or how long he had been out for. When he woke up, he noticed that Barret, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie were all sat around him. It was dim, and as he looked around his surroundings he concluded that he was in some sort of tunnel. Everyone seemed to be in disarray. Dirt hung on their faces and their clothes were torn in places. They had barely escaped with their lives.

They sat in silence for a few moments until Biggs said, "That should keep the planet going… at least a little longer."

"Yeah," replied Wedge, rather nonchalantly; it was as if he simply didn't know what else to say.

Barret sat in the far corner and kept himself to himself. Jessie began fumbling with some sort of device that she had attached to the wall.

"OK!" she yelled. "Now everyone get back."

Cloud and the others stood far back against the wall. The wall that Jessie had attached the device to suddenly exploded into flame. A huge gap formed in it. A way out, Cloud assumed. He glanced over at Wedge, who was screaming in agony and clenching his butt with both hands. It was alight. He started fanning the flames with his hands and eventually was able to quell them. Cloud shrugged and rolled his eyes. He didn't have time for this.

"All right," Barret began, "now let's get out of here. Rendezvous at Sector 8 station! Split up and get on the train!"

Biggs, Wedge and Jessie followed Barret's orders and left, while Cloud remained. He faced Barret.

"H, hey!" he began. He needed paying. He didn't care about the planet, or its people. To him, a job was only worth doing for the money.

"If it's about your money save it 'til we're back at the hideout," he said, as if he could reach into Cloud's mind, pull out his thoughts and read them.

Barret left the tunnel and Cloud followed him into the dirty city of Lower Midgar.


	5. Leap of Faith

The pretty girl stood humbly at the edge of the street with her basket of flowers, smiling at passers by even though no one ever returned her smile. Such was the way of life in Midgar. She had become used to it by now. Two people rushed by her, knocking her off her feet. She stood up, brushed herself off and smiled even though there was very little to feel happy about. Sometimes, just smiling seemed to help.

* * *

><p>Cloud had emerged into the slums of Midgar. It was a dirty, rotten place full of hooligans and people with nary a gil to their name, most of which were slumming it on the streets. He glanced across the way and saw a young woman dressed in a long pink dress, holding a basket of flowers. Her long brown hair was blowing in the wind and she was smiling, a rarity in these parts. He walked over to her but was unsure as what to say. He rarely talked to women like this. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy it, but that time rarely permitted it. That, and the jobs he often did.<p>

"Excuse me," she said. Her voice was gentle and had a soothing quality about it. "What happened?" Her emerald eyes glistened even though the light was dim.

"Nothing… hey listen," he said. "Don't see many flowers around here."

"Oh, these? Do you like them? They're only a gil…?"

He had never bought flowers before. They were beautiful. For a gil, he could hardly refuse.

"Oh, thank you! Here you are!"

She handed him a flower and walked away into the darkness. He turned to look at her but she had gone. He continued through the drab streets of the city, feeling cold, hungry and tired. It seemed that the dingy buildings were bearing in on him, crushing him down and suffocating him in darkness. He shook his head and breathed in through his nose. He had to try and clear his head.

"Hey! You there!"

He turned towards the source of the noise and saw a Shinra soldier looking back at him.

"Shinra soldiers…" he muttered to himself.

They seemed to come out of nowhere. There were loads of them, and they had him cornered. He had no choice but to fight. He was able to cut the first group of soldiers down with ease but the second and third waves seemed a lot stronger. He was growing tired. As more and more soldiers appeared from the darkness, Cloud realised that he had no choice but to run; but where? He was cornered.

"That's as far as you go," a soldier told him, his eyes as cool as steel.

"I don't have time to be messin' around with you guys," Cloud said, casually, as if this was a common occurrence for him.

"Enough babbling!" the soldier yelled. "Grab him!"

Cloud backed away as the Shinra soldiers advanced. His hands rested on a metal railing and beneath him lay the Midgar railroad. He looked down and realised that it was far too high to jump down. He was stranded. The soldiers were so close. Suddenly, he heard a roar in the distance. He glanced down the tracks and saw a pair of bright lights advancing towards him. A train. It thundered under him at the speed of light. It was now or never. Cloud jumped over the railing and onto the roof of the train. He had taken a leap of faith, and he had survived it.


	6. Paying Off

The train was awful inside, but Barret hardly cared. He had seen far worse in his job as a terrorist. The walls were made of metal, rusted in a lot of places. Dirty crates lay in corners and the floor space had been taken up mostly with pieces of scrap metal. Wedge had propped himself against a crate while Biggs and Jessie stood further up the cabin.

"Cloud never came," said Wedge, sounding a little nonplussed. Why would he expect anything else of the man? Barret had got the impression that he was a cold-hearted mercenary and nothing more. But then again, he seemed the type to never throw away the chance of some cash.

"Cloud… wonder if he was killed?" asked Biggs.

"No way!" Barret shouted, surprising even himself.

"Cloud…" added Jessie, sounding mystified.

Barret glanced up as something banged the roof of the cabin but he dismissed it instantly and looked back down.

"Say, do you think Cloud's going to fight to the end for AVALANCHE?" asked Biggs.

"The hell would I know?" Barret answered back angrily. "Do I look like a mind reader?"

He hit the crate he was leaning against with his fist. He liked the guys he worked with, but jeez, they got him so angry sometimes.

"Hmph! If y'all weren't such screw-ups…"

"Hey Barret!" Wedge piped up. "What about our money…?"

Enraged, Barret hit the crate again, but Wedge being Wedge didn't take the initiative to stop talking and continued on.

"Uh…nothin'… sorry," he mumbled. He emitted a pathetic yelp and hung his head. Finally got the message, it seemed.

The bangs came again in quick succession. Suddenly, the train door burst open and Cloud waltzed through, landing on his feet in front of Barret.

"Cloud!" Jessie, Biggs and Wedge all shouted in unison. Barret was indifferent. He was just a kid above his station. Nothing more, nothing less. Yet they were all treating him like a celebrity.

"Looks like I'm a little late," Cloud said, ironing out his clothes with a quick brush of his hand.

"You damn right, you're late!" Barret boomed. "Come waltzin' in here makin' a big scene!"

"It's no big deal," Cloud replied with a tone that reeked of aloofness. "Just what I always do."

"Shi't! Havin' everyone worried like that, you don't give a damn 'bout no one but yourself!"

"Hmm… you were worried about me!" Cloud replied.

"Wha!" Barret yelled. "I'm takin' it outta your money, hot stuff!"

Barret walked to the centre of the cabin and gestured wildly with his arms.

"Wake up! We're movin' out! Follow me!"

He exited the cabin, the door to the adjoining one springing shut behind him.

* * *

><p>Cloud was barely out of breath. He took a massive risk, though, and it was playing on his mind somewhat. What if that train hadn't been the one his comrades had gotten on? What if it was going to the other side of Midgar? It wasn't the first time he'd taken risks, though. He was a lucky guy. A risky decision usually paid off. He ruffled his hair with his hand. Jessie was eyeing him, but he tried not to take too much notice. She was a woman, after all.<p>

"Hey Cloud!" yelled Wedge as he walked towards the door to the next cabin. "You were great back there!" He exited through the door.

"Heh heh… Cloud! We'll do even better next time!" said Biggs, a little sheepishly. He followed Wedge through the door and was gone. Only Jessie remained. Cloud gulped, hoping she hadn't noticed his awkwardness. She smiled at him and then walked towards the exit door, which Cloud had left open.

"Be careful," she said, "I'll shut this."

The door closed with a soft thud and the roar from outside quietened. She walked over to Cloud again and peered into his face. He shuffled on his feet awkwardly, but Jessie didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, Cloud! Your face is pitch-black..."

She placed her hand on his face, an invasion of his personal space if ever there was one, and wiped the grime from his cheeks and forehead.

"There you go!" she said cheerfully. "Say, thanks for helping me back there are the reactor!"

"Just did what I had to do," Cloud replied.

They left the cabin together and into the adjoining one.


	7. Formalities

"Last train out of Sector 8 Station," the intercom boomed overhead. "Last stop is Sector 7, Train Graveyard. Expected time of arrival is 12:23 AM, Midgar standard time…"

Cloud, Barret and the others barged into another cabin which was occupied by a couple of punks, an old man, what appeared to be a homeless guy and a man in a crimson red suit. The cabin was well-kept with soft seats and clean, metal walls. Barret plonked himself down on one of the seats and stretched out like he hadn't got a care in the world. The official-looking man turned away and muttered something to himself before leaving.

_Probably doesn't like the idea of sharing a cabin with a couple of shady looking guys like us_, Cloud thought to himself.

Cloud paced the cabin and glanced at a scruffy-looking man lying lengthways on one of the seats.

"Huh? This is my house, so make yourselves at home," he muttered, more to himself than the people around him. Cloud caught a whiff of booze and body odour on him, turned away and distanced himself from him.

"Stop actin' like a damn kid," Barret said to Cloud. "Si'down and shu'up!"

Cloud wasn't aware that he had even spoken. Perhaps being the leader of a rookie terrorist group was taking its toll on him, Cloud thought.

"Hey, Cloud," said Jessie as he approached her. "You want to look at this with me? It's a map of the Midgar Rail System. Let's look at it together."

"OK," replied Cloud.

"I'll explain it to you. I like this kind of stuff. Bombs and monitors… you know, flashy stuff. Okay, it's about to start."

A huge monitor had been placed on the metal wall panels. Its screen was blank. Cloud wasn't quite sure what he was meant to be looking at until a digitally rendered mesh of Midgar suddenly lit up on the screen.

"This is a complete model of the city of Midgar," Jessie began. "It's about a 1/10000 scale. The top plate is about 50 metres above ground. A main support structure holds the plate up in the centre, and there are other support structures build in each section…"

She leaned closer to Cloud and whispered in his ear, "The no. 1 reactor we blew up was in the northern section. Then there's No. 2, No. 3 all the way up to the No. 8 Reactor. The 8 Reactors provide Midgar with electricity. Each town used to have a name, but no one in Midgar remembers them. Instead of names, we refer to them by numbered sectors. That's the kind of place this is. Phew... this is next! Look."

A blue dotted line weaved through the mesh of Midgar.

"This is the route the train is on," Jessie informed him. "The route spirals around the main support structure. We should be coming around the centre area, right now. At each checkpoint, an ID sensor device is set up. It can check the identities and background on each and every passenger on the train by linking it up to the central databank at Shinra headquarters."

She leaned in again and whispered, "Anyone could tell that we look suspicious, so we're using fake ID's."

Suddenly, a red light started flashing and an intense, high-pitched siren pierced the air.

"Speak of the devil," Jessie said. "That light means we're in the ID Security Check area. When the lights go off, you never know what kind of creeps'll come out," she whispered. "Anyhow, we're almost back now. That's a relief."

After a short while, the red flashing lights ceased and the siren stopped. The dim, yellowy lights came back on and Cloud breathed a sigh of relief. He could hear someone snoring behind him. He turned around and saw Biggs who had fallen asleep standing up.

"Don't act so damn big, Barret," Biggs mumbled, half incoherently.

Barret hadn't heard him and was admiring the 'view' from the window behind him.

"Look… you can see the surface now. This city don't have no day or night," he said. "If that plate weren't there… we could see the sky."

Cloud looked out the window. It was quite a horrific sight. He figured that most people who lived down in lower Midgar never even saw the sky. It all seemed so wrong, but what could he do about it? What could anyone do about it? It didn't really matter what AVALANCHE did. They could try and blow the top plate off lower Midgar and it _still_ wouldn't make a difference. He was really just in it for the money. A pang of guilt tried to surface but he brushed it off as quickly as it came.

"A floating city… pretty unsettling scenery," Cloud said to Barret.

Barret looked at him with an eyebrow raised and said, "Huh? Never expect to hear that outta someone like you. You jes' full of surprises."

He stood up suddenly and started to pace. He was gesticulating with his arms. Cloud thought he looked angry, and who could blame him? That's what lower Midgar did to people.

"The upper world… a city on a plate…It's 'cuz of that damn 'pizza' that people underneath are sufferin'! And the city below is full of polluted air. On topa that, the reactor keeps drainin' up all the energy."

"Then why doesn't everyone move onto the plate?" Cloud asked.

"Dunno. Probably 'cuz they ain't got no money. Or, maybe... 'cuz they love their land, no matter how polluted it gets."

Cloud didn't think anybody lived here because they wanted to. Who would?

"I know…," Cloud began, "no one wants to live in the slums because they want to. It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where its rails take it."

He sat down and closed his eyes. He didn't want to think about anything else right now. Things were starting to hurt him a little. He slept the rest of the way. When he opened his eyes, they were sore. He rubbed them, stretched and got off the train onto the platform in the Sector 7 Station.

"Yo!" Barret yelled. "Get over here, all' ya!"

Cloud, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie all gathered around Barret. Cloud had to admit, the brute was a good leader. Everyone always obeyed him. Then again, the guy had a gatling gun for a hand…

"This mission was a success. But don't get lazy now. The hard part's still to come! Don't y'all be scared of that explosion! 'Cause the next one's gonna be bigger than that! Meet back at the hideout! Move out!"


	8. Seventh Heaven

Cloud, Barret and the others left the train station, crossed through the slums and stood in front of a dilapidated but somewhat comforting looking bar called Seventh Heaven. Barret waltzed straight into the bar, followed by Biggs, Wedge and Jessie. Cloud jumped as the sounds of rapid gunfire rang through the bar. Seconds passed and patrons ran out the door and into the distance. Barret sure had a way of doing things, Cloud thought.

"OK! Go on ahead," Barret told Cloud as he stepped outside the door to beckon him.

The bar was old and rather shabby but the place had a warm, safe atmosphere. It was very small, with old wooden floors and dim lamps that cast a warming glow around the room. There was only room for two tables. The bar stood at the top left corner. On the right wall was a pinball machine. Tifa, a girl who Cloud had known since childhood, was serving drinks at the bar. God, how long had it been since they last saw each other?

Cloud was roused from his thoughts by the sound of a little girl's voice.

"Papa!"

Her hair was dark, almost black, and her eyes were the colour of chocolate. She wore a pink dress with a large yellow ribbon festooned near the collar. Upon seeing Cloud, she suddenly went very shy and ran into the corner to hide. It was really nothing unusual. Kids didn't seem to like Cloud very much. Tifa ran from behind the bar, knelt down besides her and gave her a cuddle.

"Marlene! Aren't you going to say anything to Cloud?" Tifa asked her.

Tifa stood up and walked over to Cloud, Marlene trailing behind her. She pushed her hair out of her face and smiled, albeit a little nervously.

"Welcome home, Cloud. Looks like everything went well. Did you fight with Barret?"

"Yeah."

"I should have known. He's always pushing people around, and you've always been in fights ever since you were little. I was worried."

Tifa looked down at the flowers that Cloud was holding and beamed.

"Flowers? How nice…" she said, dreamily. "You almost never see them here in the slums."

That was true, flowers hardly grew at all. They couldn't. With no sunlight and the air full of pollution, flowers had no chance to thrive. Cloud suddenly wondered about that mysterious flower lady. Where did she get her flowers from? He'd never know now. The chances of seeing her again were slim. Lower Midgar was a huge place.

"But…a flower for me?" she asked bashfully. "Oh Cloud, you shouldn't have…"

"No big," Cloud replied.

"Thank you, Cloud. It smells wonderful."

She looked around as if inspecting the décor.

"Maybe I should fill the store with flowers," she said, and then knelt down to talk to Marlene.

Cloud looked around and saw Wedge sitting on a stool, massaging his stomach.

"Oh. Cloud!" he exclaimed. "Tifa really knows how to cook." He licked his lips. "Anyway, let me tell you somethin'."

"About what?"

"Tifa always lets me taste her cooking. And look at me now, I'm rolly-polly. Don't know whether I should be happy or sad. But it's the good food and drinks that make this shop famous."

Biggs was sat at the bar. After listening to Wedge's story, Cloud walked over to him. He appeared quite drunk.

_Lightweight,_ thought Cloud.

"Aah! Nothin' like that first drink after a job." He hiccupped. "Why don't you have one too?"

"No," Cloud replied.

"What!?" he spluttered. "You tellin' me you're too good to drink with me? Don't act big-headed jus' because you were in SOLDIER!"

The real reason was because he annoyed Cloud with his immaturity. Besides, he had other things to be doing with his time. Getting smashed out of his face with booze wasn't on the agenda.

The door to the bar sprang open and Barret stormed in.

"Papa!" cried Marlene. "Welcome home!"

Barret picked his daughter up and placed him on his shoulders. Cloud had to admit, the sight of it warmed him a little. She seemed like such a charming little girl, and he could tell that Barret's heart was in the right place.

"You alright, Barret?" Tifa asked him.

He nodded and then shouted for the group to follow him into the hideout. The hideout turned out to be downstairs, the entrance to it being hidden under the pinball machine. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie followed Barret, but Cloud stayed behind and walked up to the bar to talk to Tifa. She smiled and asked him to sit down.

"How about something to drink?"

"Give me something hard," Cloud said. He decided he needed a drink after all.

"Just a minute, I'll make one for you."

She studied the drinks and mixers behind the bar, mixed him a drink and slid it across the counter for him.

"You know, I'm relieved you made it back safely."

"What's with you all of a sudden?" Cloud asked. "That wasn't even a tough job."

"I guess not…" replied Tifa, sounding rather crestfallen. "…You were in SOLDIER."

She leaned over to him.

"Make sure you get your pay from Barret."

"Don't worry. Once I get that money, I'm outta here."

"Cloud, are you feeling alright?" said Tifa as he stood up.

"…Yeah…why?" he asked her.

"No reason. You just look a little tired I guess."

Cloud yawned. He _was_ tired. He couldn't rest just yet though. There was still so much to do. He said his goodbyes to Tifa and headed downstairs to the hideout.


	9. A Difference of Opinion

The hideout was small, cluttered and dirty. A table was set in the middle of the room and on top of it were some sheets of paper with hastily drawn plans scribbled on them. Biggs seemed to be eyeing them but had a perplexed look on his face as if he didn't really understand them. Wedge was also standing at the table, but appeared to be falling asleep.

In the top right corner was a large television that was resting on some cardboard boxes that had been stacked up high. A news broadcast lit up the screen. Jessie was sat at a computer next to it, typing away, her fingers click-clacking on the keys.

Barret was knocking seven shades out of a punch bag in the left corner while Marlene was sat on some cardboard boxes next to him, swinging her feet idly back and forth, seemingly indifferent about her father's aggressive nature.

"Yo, Cloud!" Barret yelled. "There's somethin' I wanna ask ya. Was there anyone from SOLDIER fighting us today?"

"None. I'm positive," Cloud replied.

"You sound pretty sure," Barret replied, a little stiffly.

"If there was anyone from SOLDIER you wouldn't be standing here now," Cloud replied cockily.

"Don't go thinkin' you so bad jes cuz you was in SOLDIER."

Barret erupted into another one of his rages that Cloud had seen too many times already. He raised his fists into the air and started shaking them. His face turned into a grimace. He looked like a child who couldn't get his own way, Cloud thought, deciding to keep that to himself. Biggs tried to hold him back and failed as the brute sent him flying through the air with his gun arm. The skinny guy emitted a cry of defeat and lay there massaging his chest casually as if it had happened many times before.

"Yeah, you're strong," Barret continued. "Probably all them guys in SOLDIER are. But don't forget your skinny ass's working for AVALANCHE now! Don't get no ideas 'bout hangin' on to Shinra."

"Stayin' with Shinra? You asked me a question and I answered it… that's all. I'm going upstairs. I want to talk about my money."

Just as Cloud turned to leave the hideout, Tifa rode the pinball machine down.

"Wait! Cloud!" she huffed. She sounded out of breath.

"Tifa! Let him go!" yelled Barret. "Looks like he still misses the Shinra!"

Cloud whipped round and faced him.

"Shut up! I don't care about Shinra or SOLDIER!" he erupted. "But don't get me wrong! I don't care about AVALANCHE or the Planet for that matter!"

Enraged, he ascended back into the bar and paced, not really sure what to do or think. Moments later Tifa emerged from the hideout.

"Listen, Cloud. I'm asking you. Please join us."

"Sorry Tifa…" Cloud replied, turning away from her.

"The planet is dying. Slowly but surely it's dying. Someone has to do something."

"So let Barret and his buddies do something about it. It's got nothin' to do with me."

Cloud walked towards the front door. He liked Tifa a lot but he cared nothing for the planet. If Barret wanted to protect it, then so be it. He didn't want to be a part of it.

"So!" Tifa huffed. "You're really leaving!? You're just going to walk right out ignoring your childhood friend!?"

Cloud turned around to face her once more.

"What…? How can you say that!"

Tifa put her hands on her waist.

"You forgot the promise, too," she said.

"Promise?" Cloud asked, confused. He couldn't remember any promise. He wasn't the kind of guy who made promises. They could be broken so easily.

Tifa looked down at the ground.

"So you _did_ forget. Remember… Cloud, it was seven years ago. Do you remember the well?"

"Yeah… back then," he replied. "I thought you would never come, and I was getting a little cold."

He thought back to that day, and suddenly everything came flooding back.


	10. The Promise

He was back in Nibelheim, his and Tifa's hometown. It was a glorious night, just getting dark, and the azure blue sky was filled with stars. He was sat on the large wooden well that was the centrepiece for the village. Quaint houses surrounded him and the street was cobbled. The air was mild, but he remembered getting chilly sat high up on the well, and he wondered if Tifa would ever show up.

"Sorry I'm late," Tifa said as she approached him from behind. She sat down beside him. She wore a turquoise dress and shoes to match. "You said you wanted to talk to me about something?"

Cloud hesitated for a second, looking into the sky as if trying to garner inspiration from it.

"Come this spring… I'm leaving this town for Midgar."

Tifa sighed and looked down at her shoes.

"… All boys are leaving our town."

"But I'm different from all of them," he declared. "I'm not just going to find a job." He stood up. "I want to join SOLDIER. I'm going to be the best there is, just like Sephiroth."

"Sephiroth… the great Sephiroth," Tifa said dreamily.

Cloud climbed to the top of the well and looked up at the starry sky.

"Isn't it hard to join SOLDIER?"

Cloud nodded and then said, "I probably won't be able to come back to this town for a while."

"Will you be in the newspapers if you do well?" Tifa asked.

"I'll try."

"Hey, why don't we make a promise?" Tifa said excitedly. "Umm, if you get really famous and I'm ever in a bind, you come save me, all right?"

"What?" Cloud replied.

"Whenever I'm in trouble, my hero will come and rescue me. I want to at least experience that once."

"What?" Cloud said again. He was clueless about girls. He didn't understand them at all.

"Come on-!" she pleaded. "Promise me-!"

Cloud sighed and then said, "All right… I promise."

Cloud looked up into the starlit sky as a shooting star, glowing bright white, zoomed across the horizon.

_I promise._


	11. A Little Respite

He couldn't believe he'd forgotten. He'd let her down, his childhood friend. Yet here she was, bright-eyed and cheery from the pleasure of seeing him again. He didn't deserve her kindness. He deserved it from no one. He had SOLDIER's blood running through his veins. You had to be cold-hearted to be one of the ranks. He should never have made a promise he couldn't keep.

"You remember now, don't you… our promise?"

"I'm not a hero," he admitted, "and I'm not famous. I can't keep… the promise."

"But you got your childhood dream, didn't you? You joined SOLDIER."

Cloud looked at the ground, not knowing what to say.

"So come on! You've got to keep your promise…"

Cloud was spared from answering when he saw Barret climb up the elevator like a huge spider. The man knew no boundaries, that was for sure.

"Wait a sec big-time SOLDIER!" he huffed. "A promise is a promise! Here!"

He fished out a bag of gil from his jacket pocket and threw it to Cloud. He caught it with a swift hand. 1500 gil. That was a pittance. The job was worth more than that. He raised his concerns with Barret.

"This is my pay? Don't make me laugh."

"What? Then you'll…!" Tifa gasped.

"You got the next mission lined up? I'll do it for 3000."

"What…!?" Barret yelled, seemingly enraged. Cloud didn't understand the guy.

"It's ok, it's ok," Tifa said to him and then whispered something to him that Cloud couldn't hear.

"That money's for Marlene's schoolin'," Barret replied, just audible to Cloud's ears. He turned to Cloud again. "2000!"

Well, it was better than nothing, he supposed.

"Thanks Cloud," Tifa said as she walked up to him.

He was beat, so he decided to retreat to the basement so that he could take a little respite. There, he could focus his energy on the next mission without having anyone disturb him… hopefully. He realised, half an hour later, that he'd done more than focus his energy; he'd fallen asleep, something he really didn't want to do. He shook his head and made his way back upstairs to see that Tifa and Barret were waiting for him.

"Our target's the Sector 5 Reactor," said Barret. "Head for the station first. I'll fill you in on the train."

Cloud just nodded at him.

"Yo! Cloud!" bellowed Barret. "Before the next mission, I got somethin' I wanna ask you! I, uh… I don't really know how to use Materia. I'll give you that Materia you found. Just teach me how to use it!"

Cloud sighed. He didn't really expect anything else from a brute like Barret. He was all muscle and brawn. Even so, they were comrades now and if the mission was successful, he'd get his money, so he gave Barret an in-depth tutorial about Materia, albeit unwillingly, of course.

"Shi…!" exclaimed Barret, like he'd just stubbed his toe on a sharpened object. "What's this 'It wasn't that tough!' crap! I'm clueless…"

Cloud sighed, louder this time.

"Well, you handle the Materia then!"

"I'm going this time," Tifa chimed in. She turned to Cloud. "Cloud! I got a message from the Weapon Shop man upstairs. He has something he wants to give you. Don't forget!"

She walked over to Marlene who was happily playing behind the bar, pretending to be all grown up and mixing drinks.

"Marlene, you watch the store while we're gone!"

"All right!" the little girl said. "Good luck."

Cloud, Tifa and Barret left Inn and headed for the Weapon Shop so that they could gather a few supplies for the next mission.


	12. Limit Break

Above the Weapon's Shop was a room known as the Beginner's Hall. It was a dusty old room full to the brim with wooden crates. On top of the crates, children play-fought and tried to master the techniques they'd learned from the adults that were nearby.

_Ah, to be a child again,_ Cloud thought. _Not a care in the world._

While there, Cloud and his team managed to get their hands on an All Materia, as well as an Ether and a few other oddities that would surely come in handy for the next mission.

Just as they were about to leave, one of the children decided to up the ante and started hitting his combatant with all of his might.

"Help!" screamed the child, turning her back to her aggressor in the hope that he'd stop. When he didn't, Cloud intervened.

"You've got to hang in there," he told her. "Your limit gauge is just starting to build."

The three brawny adults that were stood in front of them screamed in unison, as if they had never before witnessed a fiercer fight.

_Bunch of cowards,_ thought Cloud, shaking his head.

He watched the girl carefully as she hung in there and tried to block the boy's punches as best as she could. Her face was a picture of steely determination. As a seasoned professional, Cloud could tell when someone had neared their limit, and the girl had just reached hers.

"Ok! Now your limit gauge is full, go ahead and use it! Fight with your limit technique."

Taking Cloud's advice in her stride, the girl suddenly whipped around and threw brutal punches as fast as the wind, knocking her opponent to the ground in a flash.

"Great!" Cloud exclaimed.

Everyone in the room whooped and cheered at the girl's display of her hidden strength. After a moment or two, the boy stood up, dusted himself off and shook her hand.

"Wait!" shouted a man wearing a white tank top, jeans and a hardhat, just as Cloud and his team were about to leave for the second time. "You say you're a beginner?" he began, looking intently into Cloud's eyes. "But your eyes say you're not."

Cloud, feeling a sense of pride boom in his chest, said to him, "Don't mess with me. I used to be in SOLDIER. I'll tell you how much I know… an' for free too!"

The man took him up on his offer, which pleased Cloud greatly. He hadn't joined SOLDIER just to fight. He had joined to better himself in the world of combat. He taught the man everything he knew; he was, however, regretting that he'd tell it all for free!

Back in the Weapon's Shop, the trio were collared by the sales clerk.

"Hey HEY! Waitaminit you! You can't just walk outta here without buying somethin'... Might be unhealthy for ya, if you know what I mean."

The clerk, while maybe not having the best sales pitch, still managed to persuade Cloud to buy a few things.

Next stop was the item and Materia Shop. An elderly man owned it and was clearly surprised to see them.

"Oh! Look at this! This doesn't happen everyday. You a… customer?"

He laughed heartily, like he had just received some brilliantly life-changing news.

"Yes! Welcome! We sell! We buy!"

Cloud decided to buy a supply of potions and some new destructive Materia. Potions were a life-saver; destructive Materia just made fighting a whole lot easier.

They thanked the shopkeeper, who in turn thanked _them_ for supporting his future, and made their way to the train station.


	13. The Pursuit

The train was filled with people – commuters, loners, drunkards and homeless people mostly. Barret was instantly unnerved by this.

"Yo!" he yelled. "Looks like this ain't no private car! So split up!"

Cloud saw the brute's face crumple like a bad smell had just offended his nostrils. He was glaring at a snobby commuter in a pristine scarlet coloured suit. He ran down the length of the car, his footfalls sounding monstrous, and stood in front of the man, who had now sat down.

"You say sumthin'?"

His question was greeted with a tense silence. If the man had said something, Cloud thought, he sure wasn't going to admit to it.

"I said, 'you say somethin'!?" Barret repeated.

When he still didn't get a response he inched close to the man's face and said, with an intimidating demeanour, "Yo, look at that! It got empty alluva sudden. What's goin' on?"

"DAMN!" the man donned in scarlet suddenly piped up. "I… it's empty because of g, guys like you…"

Barret swooped in like a crazed bat and punched the seat next to the commuter with such force that it seemed to shake the entire car.

"Y, Y, YIPES!" he screamed. "You… you've seen the news, right? AVALANCHE says there'll be more bombings. Only devoted employees like me would go to Midgar on a day like today."

Barret suddenly took a step back.

"You workin' for Shinra?"

"I won't give in to violence," the man humbly announced. "And I'm not giving you my seat either!" he finished, with a clear snootiness in his voice.

Barret seemed to be gearing up for another insult but Tifa stopped him before he could open his mouth. She ran the entire length of the car, her ponytail swinging back and forth.

"Barret!" she yelled.

"Bastard! You lucky bastard!" roared Barret, gritting his teeth.

"So, what are we gonna do now?" Cloud asked as Tifa led Barret back up to the rear of the car. He couldn't care less about petty arguments with petty businessmen, especially businessmen who worked for Shinra, the so-called supplier of electricity throughout Midgar. Cloud knew other things though, things that the multi-million-gil corporation would rather keep hidden.

"Shit!" shouted Barret. "The hell you so calm about? You bustin' up my rhythm…"

Suddenly the train whirred into motion and they began to move.

"Seems like they just finished connecting the cars," said Tifa. "We're finally leaving."

"So what's our next target?" asked Cloud, eager to get the mission rolling.

"Hah! Listen to Mr. Serious-about-his-work!" roared Barret with a mocking laugh. "Awright…I'll tell ya! Jessie's already probably told you, but there's a security check point at the top plate. It's an ID scan system checkin' all the trains."

"Which Shinra is very proud of," added Tifa with a hint of disgust in her voice.

"We can't use our fake ID's anymore…" continued Barret.

A loud voice boomed through the car as an automated message sounded.

'_Good morning, and welcome to Midgar lines. Arrival time to sector 4 station will be 11:45."_

"That means we've got only three more minutes to the ID check point," said Tifa worriedly.

"Alright, in three minutes we're jumpin' off this train." yelled Barret. "Got it!?"

It seemed like less of a plan and more of a recipe for disaster. Did Barret realise how fast the train was moving? Not only that, but if they all jumped too soon they'd be miles from their destination. The guy might be all brawn, but he certainly wasn't very brainy. Still, it wasn't his problem. As long as he got his money…

"Cloud, come over here!" Tifa called. She was at the other end of the car. "Let's look at the Railway Map Monitor."

Cloud ambled over, disinterested. Jessie had already shown him and he didn't really wish to see it again. Tifa apparently noticed his indifference.

"Hmm, it looks like you've seen this already… It's alright," she cooed. "Come a little closer."

He edged closer, so close now that he could smell her freshly shampooed hair. Suddenly, an ear-piercing siren reverberated through the car, and a red light flashed on and off.

"That's odd," said Tifa, turning to face Cloud. "The ID Check Point was supposed to be further down."

'_Type A Security Alert!' _a voice blared. '_Unidentified passengers confirmed… a search of all cars will be conducted! Repeat! Type A Security Alert! Unidentified passengers confirmed… a search of all cars will be conducted!_

"What's happening?" Tifa groaned.

Barret thundered down the length of the car, his footfalls heavy, to meet them.

"What's goin' on! he yelled, alarmed.

A girl in a Shinra uniform came rushing through the doors that connected the car they were in to the next one. It looked a lot like Jessie, Cloud realised.

"We're in trouble," she told them. "I'll explain later. Hurry! Get to the next car!"

"Shit!" Barret screamed. "Someone blew it…"

'_Unidentified passengers located in car 1. Preparing for Lock Down.'_

"Let's go!" Barret ordered. "Keep it up!"

They bolted through the door and into the second car just as the locks clicked into place. A second later and they'd have been trapped in there, and subsequently captured and taken into custody.

The automated voice blared again.

'_Car 1: Locked Down. Upgrading to Level 2 Warning_.'

Biggs and Wedge were in this car, and beckoned them over.

"Hurry!" Biggs cried, his voice frantic.

"They're gonna lock the door, sir!" Wedge yelled.

Biggs and Wedge disappeared through the door ahead, quick as a flash.

"Just run!" cried the girl, as the automated voice boomed over her. "Changing to Plan 2!"

_Some plan_ thought Cloud as his heart thundered in his chest. He might have the skills of someone from SOLDIER but he wasn't cut out for this kind of amateur shit. This kind of thing whittled your stamina down to zero because it was too abrupt and messy. A good plan needed stability.

Still, he had to give it a try. Tifa and Barret followed her into the car ahead and Cloud tagged along behind.

As soon as they entered the third car, the voice blared again. It had a haunting quality to it now, like a malevolent spirit that you could never run from. Then, with a stroke of luck, the flashing lights and sirens ceased, leaving Cloud with a faint buzzing noise in his ears, as well as the sound of his own blood pumping through his brain.

"Awright!" Barret cheered. "We clear!?"

"Not yet," the girl who looked a lot like Jessie informed the group. "They're starting another check. If we're caught, we're done for! But, don't worry. If we move up the train, car by car, we should get past it!"

_Oh great _Cloud thought. So it still wasn't over. He guessed that this was just the eye of the storm.

'_Unidentified passengers: Moving to front of train. Currently tracking location.'_

They were really cutting it fine now. Cloud, Tifa and Barret bolted through the car and into the adjoining one, with just seconds to spare.

'Car 3: Locked down. Upgrading to Warning Level 4'.

In the final car, the voice informed its passengers that the maximum security had just been reached. Cloud likened the voice to a bad smell that wouldn't go away, or an itch that only worsened in severity the more you scratched at it. It was a sign that things couldn't really get any worse than this… unless they got caught, of course. He couldn't let that happen.

Cloud eyed Jessie; she was stood at the very front of the train next to a man wearing a very fake moustache and a concealing trench coat. He followed Barret and Tifa down the car towards them.

"All right!" cheered Barret. "We made it! Let's go! We're gonna dive outta here!"

The girl in the Shinra uniform looked at Cloud and beckoned him to come a little closer.

"It's me, Jessie," she informed him. "How do I look, Cloud? Do I look good in a Shinra uniform?"

"Yeah, you look great, just like a man."

"Yay!" Jessie squealed. "I'm so happy… I think?"

Tifa turned to Cloud this time. What was it with girls wanting his attention all the time? He didn't give any signals out. He just kept himself to himself. In fact, he considered himself to be a cold mercenary. Maybe it turned them on.

"Scary… huh," she said to him, a shake in her voice.

"Too late to be saying that now," said Cloud coldly. "Why'd you come along anyway?"

"Because…"

"Hey you two!" Barret interrupted. "There ain't no time for that!"

"Yeah!" Tifa suddenly blurted. "I've made up my mind! Watch closely. I'm gonna jump!"

And before Cloud could even blink, she had done it. She'd jumped. He had to admit, the girl had gusto. He turned to Barret.

"You don't care if I go first?"

"A leader always stays to the end," Barret told him. "Don't worry 'bout me, just go!"

Cloud walked over to the open door. A cold wind was slamming into his face and the noise from outside was deafening.

"Yo! Don't go gettin' your spikey-ass hurt! It's only the beginnin' of the mission!"

And with that in mind, Cloud jumped.


	14. Flashback

The jump wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be. He'd rolled onto the floor, using his arms and legs as protection. He'd come out of it without a scratch. So had Tifa, luckily.

They were in a tunnel-like structure that was that was composed entirely out of metal, and had massive poles supporting it in the centre. Lights, red, green and yellow, flashed in a non-unison fashion. They must have been really close to their destination by now.

Barret met up with them a few minutes later, holding his head and wearing a sheepish expression.

"Good, so far everything's going as planned," he told the group, trying to ignore the fact that his jump hadn't been as polished as he'd hoped. "Better not let your guard down till we get to the Sector 5 Reactor. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie got everything ready for us. So MOVE it."

He inspected his surroundings for a brief moment.

"Well, the reactor's just down this tunnel!" he told Cloud and Tifa as they began to traverse the tunnel. They didn't get very far; as they rounded a corner they found that they couldn't get any further.

"Those light beams are the Shinra's security sensors. We can't go any further," said Cloud, as they stood before five neon green beams.

He looked to his left and saw a small hole in the tunnel wall.

"That's one damn tiny hole," scoffed Barret. "You tellin' me to squeeze into that to get under the plate? No way! Yo, Cloud, what're we gonna do?"

"We'll look inside closely," replied Cloud.

They knelt down and inspected the hole scrupulously.

"…There seems to be nothing that'll get us stuck in this duct," said Tifa after a short while.

"Yeah. If we go down this duct, we won't be able to come back up here," Cloud warned.

Barret seemed unsure and started pacing, but finally admitted it was the best idea yet.

"Don't be wastin' time. Never know when the Shinra'll find us," he said. "Cloud, you jes' gotta go."

Cloud nodded.

"But, damn man, that thing gives me the chills," Barret admitted.

Cloud went through the duct first, followed closely by Tifa and finally, Barret. The thing was infested with pesky little bug-like creatures; mutated scorpions and the like. They were easy enough to deal with, his blade cutting through their flesh like butter. With Tifa's fists of iron and Barret's gun arm, any creatures they came face to face with didn't really stand a chance. Would they be able to fight off masses of soldiers as easily? He doubted it. They had to move fast, and stealthily.

They met Jessie as they descended further into the metal metropolis that housed the reactor. She appeared crestfallen. Cloud asked her why.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, looking down at her feet. "The ID scan problem on the train was all my fault. I made your ID card special… so that's why it happened… I put my heart into making it. But I failed."

Cloud patted her on the back and said that it didn't matter anymore. It had already happened. No point in dwelling.

As they went deeper in, they met up with Biggs, who informed them that they were going to pull out and that they would meet them back at the hideout.

"Cloud, we're countin' on you to blow the reactor!" he exclaimed before saluting them and running off back in the opposite direction.

Cloud, Tifa and Barret continued on and eventually made it to the reactor. A huge furnace puffing out plumes of Mako energy stood in the centre of the colossal metal building. Machines whirred noisily in the background and the ground shook. Cloud surveyed his surroundings. They needed to reach the bottom floor, but there were no stairs or ladders close by. Instead, they had to slide down a massive chute. As usual, the only person who objected was Barret. With a few words of advice from Cloud (more like a hard shove) he ended up being the first one down.

There was a bridge at the bottom, spanning the entire length of the building, wall to wall. Beneath the bridge swirled masses and masses of pure Mako energy, bright aqua in colour. Cloud and his team would place the bomb at the far right side of the bridge and then get themselves back to safety before it went off.

Without warning, Cloud felt a sharp pain in his temples and a searing sound roared through his ears. Collapsing to the ground, he merely closed his eyes for a second before he fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>"Papa…" Tifa cried as the body of a man lay before her. A long, thin sword lay next to him, slick with blood. "Sephiroth!? Sephiroth did this to you, didn't he!?"<p>

She knelt down next to him and held his lifeless body in her hands.

"Sephiroth… SOLDIER… Mako Reactors… Shinra… Everything!" She looked up and held her arms out despairingly. "I hate them all!"

Cloud could only watch helplessly as Tifa ran into the heart of the Mako Reactor.

* * *

><p>"Damn man, get a hold of yourself!" Barret yelled, rousing Cloud from a deep sleep.<p>

He was lying face down on the ground. The floor was freezing against his flesh. He looked up to see Tifa striding towards him.

"You all right?" she asked him.

"…Tifa," he muttered, vivid images from the dream flashing before his eyes.

"Mmm?"

"No… forget… come on, let's hurry!"

He quickly stood up, brushed himself off and planted the bomb at the far right side of the bridge. Cloud knew of a shortcut back to safety, but on the way they came across a heavily guarded door, complete with a three-man locking system.

"Jessie said we all have to push the button at once," said Tifa as they stood before a large metal panel with three large, square buttons set upon it.

Cloud and Tifa pushed theirs in unison, but Barret was just a little too late, and the door remained firmly shut. Their next attempt was a success. With little time to spare, the trio raced through the open door, into another bridged area. The slums stood hundreds of metres below them. Just looking down made Cloud feel physically sick.

"This way!" Barret yelled as he ran towards the left exit.

A horde of Shinra soldiers dived through the door.

"Shinra soldiers!?" he gasped. "SHIT! What the hell's goin' on?"

"…a trap…" muttered Cloud. Suddenly, he could hear footsteps…


	15. Airbuster

A blond, heavyset man wearing a scarlet coloured suit and donning shoes that click-clacked stood in the centre doorway, his face slightly upturned, as if to imply that those standing before him were inferior to him.

"Presi… President Shinra?" Barret gasped.

"Why is the President here?" Tifa wondered.

"Hmm… So you all must be that… what was it?" began the President in a stuck-up, nasally voice.

"AVALANCHE!" Barret suddenly boomed. "And don't ya forget it! And you're President Shinra, huh?"

Cloud walked a few metres towards the President so that he could stand face to face with him. He wasn't scared of someone like him. Besides, President Shinra would never lay a finger on someone he considered lowly. He'd get his henchmen to do it for him.

"Long time no see, President," he said, coolly.

"Long time no see?" the President replied, as if Cloud wasn't worth remembering. "Oh… you," he suddenly said with a hint of disgust. "You're the one who quit SOLDIER and joined AVALANCHE. I knew you'd been exposed to Mako, from the look in your eyes… Tell me, traitor, what was your name?"

"Cloud."

"Forgive me for asking, but I can't be expected to remember each person's name." He raised a blond, bushy eyebrow. "Unless you become another Sephiroth. Yes, Sephiroth. He was brilliant. Perhaps too brilliant…"

"Sephiroth…?" Cloud gasped. He stepped back. That name sent shivers down his spine, even now.

Barret suddenly pushed past Cloud, his arms flailing.

"Don't give a damn 'bout none of that!" he bellowed, his voice full of steely anger. "This place's goin' up with a big BANG soon! Serves y'all right!"

The President casually counteracted Barret's angry tirade as though he was nothing more than a pesky insect.

"And such a waste of good fireworks, just to get rid of vermin like you…"

"VERMIN!?" Barret screamed. "That's all you can say… VERMIN! Y'all Shinra're the VERMIN, killing the planet! And that makes you King VERMIN! So shu'up jackass!"

Cloud cringed. Barret was a loose cannon, that was for sure, and had a loose tongue to boot. He also appeared to have a death wish. People who spoke to the President with such vile words rarely lived for very long, in Cloud's knowledge. A crook like him had ways of getting rid of those who spoke out. And they didn't even have to lay a finger on them to do it.

"….You are beginning to bore me," the President huffed. "I'm a very busy man, so if you'll excuse me… I have a dinner I must attend."

Barret rushed towards the President. Cloud braced himself for an impact, but Barret stopped short.

"Dinner!? Don't gimme that! I ain't even started wit' you yet!"

"But I've made arrangements for a playmate for you all."

The President clicked his fingers and smiled nastily.

Tifa whipped her head round to her left, towards the source of a very frightening noise.

"What's that noise?" she gasped.

It was a whirring, buzzing sound, like some sort of heavy machinery that had gone haywire. It wasn't long before the origin of the noise came into focus; a huge, hulking robot that had been created to resemble a soldier; kind of like a mecha-soldier, Cloud thought.

"The hell is this!?" Barret yelled, waving his fist.

"Meet 'Airbuster'," the President said with a sense of pride in his voice. "A techno-soldier. Our Weapon Development Department created him. I'm sure the data he'll extract from your dead bodies will be of great use to us in future experiments."

"…Techno-soldier?" Cloud asked. Looked like mecha-soldiers were a thing of the past. These 'techo-soldiers' were the new thing now. It was gut-wrenching, but not all that surprising to learn that this was what Shinra was busy with these days.

_War-mongers _Cloud thought.

A helicopter rose up from the depths below, no doubt to take the President away from the soon-to-be battleground and to whisk him away to his 'dinner party'.

"Now then," he began smugly, "if you'll excuse me."

"Wait, President!" Cloud yelled, running up to him, but it was too late. He'd hopped into the helicopter and was away.

_Coward!_

"Yo, Cloud!" shouted Barret, facing 'Airbuster'. "We've gotta do somethin' 'bout him!"

'Airbuster' suddenly started to advance on Barret and Tifa, eventually cornering them.

"Help, Cloud!" Tifa screamed. "THIS is from SOLDIER?"

"No way!" Cloud replied. "It's just a machine."

"I don't care what it is!" Barret yelled. "I'm gonna bust him up!"

Since 'Airbuster' was focusing on Barret and Tifa, Cloud was able to get in behind and unleash the first attack. His sword wasn't powerful enough, however, and simply clashed off the robot's solid metal armour.

"Try using Bolt on it!" Tifa suggested.

Before he could wield the spell, 'Airbuster' unleashed a devastating rocket attack that forced Cloud to the ground. Tifa took her own advice and quickly cast a Bolt spell on it. Its metal casing fizzled and popped. It looked like it had been weakened. Barret unleashed a torrent of bullets at it while Cloud slashed it again with his sword. A final Bolt spell from Cloud finally rendered the robot useless.

'Airbuster', now broken beyond repair, started to shake uncontrollably. Plumes of smoke rose from it and electricity crackled from within it. Suddenly, the robot exploded, sending shockwaves through the air and a huge gaping hole in the floor. Cloud lost his footing and was dangling perilously above the slums below, hanging onto dear life with his right arm. A fall from this height would certainly end in death.

"It's gonna blow!" yelled Barret. "Let's go, Tifa!"

"Barret!" she cried. "Can't you do something?"

"Not a damn thing."

"Cloud! Please don't die! You can't die! There's still so much I want to tell you!" sobbed Tifa as she helplessly watched him.

"I know, Tifa…" Cloud replied, his voice breathy as he tried desperately to cling on.

"Hey, you gonna be awright?" Barret asked.

"You worry about yourselves! I'm alright, but take care of Tifa!"

He didn't know how much longer he could hold on.

"…Alright. Sorry 'bout all this."

"Stop talkin' like this is the end!" demanded Cloud.

"Alright, then, later," Barret said.

A massive explosion suddenly ripped through the reactor, knocking Barret and Tifa to the ground. Cloud, unable to withstand the shockwaves, lost his grip and fell to the slums below…


	16. The Flower Girl

"…You all right?" came an eerie voice that sounded miles away.

"Can you hear me?"

"…Yeah…" Cloud mumbled.

"Back then…" the voice continued, "You could get by with just skinned knees…"

Barely there, and not sure where he was or whether he was actually still alive, Cloud decided to talk back to the haunting voice.

"…What do you mean by 'back then'?"

"What about now? Can you get up?"

Where was he?

"…What do you mean by 'that time'? … What about now?"

"…Don't worry about me," said the voice. "You just worry about yourself now."

"…I'll give it a try," Cloud said.

"How about that? Take it slow now. Little by little..."

"I know," Cloud replied.

"Hello, hello?" interjected another voice. This voice, belonging to a young woman it sounded like, seemed closer.

"Hey… who are you?" asked Cloud, his eyes heavy and unresponsive.

"Hello, hello!" the voice chirped.

He opened his eyes. They were sore and his vision was blurred. He blinked a few times, trying to refocus his lenses. A roof came into view. It was high up, and intricately designed.

_Like a church roof_, he thought. _How did I get into a church?_

It was also dilapidated, with a huge hole in the centre of it, prompting Cloud to believe he was in the slums.

"You okay?" a woman's voice asked.

He cocked his head and saw a familiar looking woman peering down at him, her eyes full of warmth and her mouth upturned into a smile. The flower girl.

"This is a church in the Sector 5 slums," she informed him. "It suddenly fell on top of me. It really gave me a scare."

He began to remember snippets of the not-so-distant past.

"…I came crashing down?"

She nodded.

"The roof and the flower bed must have broken your fall. You're lucky."

He looked down. Beautiful flowers, in every colour you could imagine, blossomed all around him.

"Flower bed… is this yours?" he asked her.

He stood up and brushed himself off, looking down at his feet to inspect the damage he'd done to the sweet girl's flowers. To his amazement, none of them seemed to have sustained any damage at all. And even more amazingly, he didn't hurt one bit.

He cleared his throat. "Sorry about that."

"That's all right," she replied. "The flowers here are quite resilient because this is a sacred place.

She turned her back to him.

"They say you can't grow grass and flowers in Midgar," she continued. "But for some reason, the flowers have no trouble blooming here." She looked up, as if taking solace from the heavens. "I love it here."

She walked back over to the flowers and knelt down to look at them, her slender hands brushing softly over the petals as if they were alive and needed love.

"…So, we meet again," she said to him.

Cloud felt uncomfortable and looked away, trying to hide his blushing cheeks with his hands. He had never felt comfortable around girls. They were hard to understand, for starters. Besides, she was pretty, and that certainly didn't help matters.

"…Don't you remember me?" she asked.

He slowly turned around.

"Yeah, I remember… you were selling flowers."

"Oh! I'm so happy!" she squealed, her aquamarine coloured eyes lighting up. "Thanks for buying my flowers."

She looked down to tend to her flowers, her petite hands gently tugging loose some petals that had begun to wither.

"Say, do you have any materia?" she asked him.

"Yes, some. Nowadays you can find materia anywhere."

"But mine is special. It's good for absolutely nothing."

Cloud furrowed his brow. All materia was good for _something._

"…Good for nothing?" he asked. "You probably just don't know how to use it."

"No, I do… it just doesn't do anything." She sighed dreamily. "I feel safe just having it. It was my mother's…"

Cloud didn't know how to respond to this. He'd never heard of anyone growing fond of materia, let alone hanging on to it when it's practically useless. Materia was an aid for battle, not a memento.

"Say, I feel like talking," said the flower girl. "Do you feel up to it? After all, here we are meeting again, right?" She smiled.

"I don't mind," Cloud replied.

"Wait here. I've got to check my flowers. It'll just be a minute."

The young girl smiled at him again; it was an innocent smile that accentuated the warmth in her eyes. It was a shame that he didn't really long to take the time to really get to know girls.

He watched her tend to her flowers for some time, and then walked over to her.

"Just a little longer," she told him. "Oh!" she gasped, as if she had suddenly remembered something important. "Now that you mention it… we don't know each other's names, do we? I'm Aeris, the flower girl. Nice to meet you."

"The name's Cloud. Me…? I do a little bit of everything."

"Oh… a jack of all trades."

"Yeah, I do whatever's needed," Cloud told her.

Aeris started to giggle. She looked as if she was trying hard to suppress it, but just couldn't stop it.

"What's so funny?" Cloud asked, feeling slightly humiliated. "What are you laughing at?"

"Sorry, I just…" she looked down at her feet, as if she was ashamed. "Sorry, bad timing on my part," Aeris told him, apologetically.

That didn't matter anymore. His sense of humour had been shot to pieces; it all stemmed from his past working for SOLDIER. What _did_ matter was the man who had just walked into the church and was staring at Aeris intently. Cloud walked up to the red-haired man who was dressed head to toe in a navy suit.

"Cloud!" Aeris called out to him. "Don't let it get to you!"

"Hello?" Cloud said as he approached the man. His eyes were untrustworthy, Cloud noted.

"Don't worry about me," the man replied.

He turned, and walked back up to Aeris. She had seen the man too and was peeking at him discreetly.

"Say, Cloud," she began. "Have you ever been a bodyguard? You do DO everything, right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Then get me out of here. Take me home."

Cloud pondered this for a moment or two.

"OK," he said finally. "I'll do it. But it'll cost you."

"Well then, let's see… how about if I go out with you once?"

This was most definitely not the answer he was expecting. He didn't reply to her; in fact, it wasn't that he didn't want to, it was because he couldn't. He felt his face blush, turned away from her and put his head in his hands.


	17. Pursued

The scrawny looking man was still there, Cloud noticed, as he looked over his shoulder, trying desperately to escape this awkward predicament. Cloud swaggered over to him. He'd fight if he had to.

"I don't know who you are, but…"

A vague memory flashed through his head. This man… he knew who he was. He'd encountered him before.

_I know you._

"Oh yeah…" Cloud said, a hint of hostility creeping into his voice. "I know you. That uniform."

"Hey sis," the sly man said. "This one's a little weird."

Three soldiers stormed through the door and stood behind the man, rigid like statues, poised to strike out if Cloud posed a sudden threat.

"Shut up!" Cloud spat. "You Shinra spy!"

"Reno!" one of the soldiers piped up. "Want him taken out?"

Reno studied Cloud for a few seconds.

"I haven't decided yet."

"Don't fight here!" Aeris interjected. "You'll ruin the flowers!"

Cloud watched her as she ran through the church towards what looked like a back door. He decided to follow her. He didn't want to fight here. Aeris had dedicated her life to caring for the flowers blooming on the church floor and the last thing he wanted to do was ruin all of her hard work.

"The exit is back there," she said, pointing towards the door.

* * *

><p>"They were… Mako eyes," Reno told his comrades.<p>

He turned to face them and was angered to see them laughing between themselves.

_Stupid fools. Good for nothing but fighting. Not a brain between them._

"Yeah, all right. Back to work, back to work."

Disregarding the flowers on the floor, he walked right over them. They crunched under his feet, but he didn't even flinch at the thought of ruining them.

"Oh!" He rushed back towards the soldiers, stopping at the edge of the flowerbed. "And don't step on the flowers…"

"Hey Reno!" one of them shouted. "You just stepped on them!"

"They're all ruined!" another shouted.

"You're gonna catch holy hell!" the third yelled.

* * *

><p>The back room at the other end of the church was in complete disarray. Cloud and Aeris were standing on a wooden landing. A basement was beneath them and was covered in dust, debris and chunks of rotten wood that had crumbled from the landing and the rafters above. A huge concrete pillar had fallen down and had struck the left side of the landing, decimating it. The pillar itself was now propped against the side of the room.<p>

Cloud could hear voices. Reno and his lackeys were pursuing them. He glanced towards some stairs that had been the victim of the pillar. The middle steps had been smashed in. They'd have to jump. Aeris went first, followed by Cloud. As they reached the top landing Reno and his lackeys had made it into the room.

"There they are, over there!" Reno yelled.

Cloud looked down and saw their pursuers glaring up at them hungrily.

"Looks like they aren't going to let us go," Cloud grumbled.

"What should we do?" asked Aeris.

He turned to face her.

"Well, we can't let them catch us, can we? Then, there's only one thing left."

The floor in front of them had decayed. A massive hole separated them from the other side of the landing. They'd have to jump over it. Cloud went first.

"Aeris! This way!" he yelled, motioning with his hand for her to follow him.

She told him she couldn't do it; that the hole was just too big for her to jump across. She'd have to find another way, somehow.

"All right. I'll hold them off," Cloud told her.

"Right. Make sure they don't get through!" exclaimed Aeris.

"The Ancient is getting away!" Reno roared from down below. "Attack! Attack! Attack!"

Rapid gunfire erupted through the air at lightning speed. The sound was sharp and excruciatingly loud, emphasised by the echoes bouncing off the walls. Aeris panicked and tried to jump over the gap, but she lost her footing and fell onto the fallen pillar, sliding all the way down. She screamed.

"Aeris!" Cloud yelled.

He could hear Reno gloating.

"Think we killed 'em?" he asked his lackeys, his voice alarmingly smug. "They shouldn't have put up a fight, I say!"

Bastard! Cloud didn't regard his life as important; he didn't care what happened to him. He had put his life in jeopardy countless times before by working for Shinra. But he was maddened that these scumbags could put a young woman's life in danger and not care whether she lived or died.

"Cloud, help!" Aeris screamed from the bottom of the room.

He looked down and was shocked to see one of the scumbag soldiers charging for her. There's no way she'd be able to hold him off.

"Damn!" Cloud yelled.

He looked up at the rafters and saw something balancing on the left beam.

"What's that?" he wondered. Maybe he could push it over the edge. It could act as a distraction at the very least. He couldn't just stand and watch. He had to give it a go.

"Aeris!" he shouted. "Hold on a minute!"

He raced up a rickety set of stairs and onto the rafters. He noticed that there were four large barrels up here, and they could certainly come in handy if he timed the pushes right. It was a long shot. He also didn't have much time. He raced to the barrel that was stood on the upper left beam and pushed it over.

There was a strangled cry from down below. He glanced down and saw one of the soldiers lying on the ground with a barrel on top of him. It worked!

"Thanks, Cloud," called Aeris.

He watched her run to the foot of the stairs that led to the first landing, but a soldier came charging down them and was poised, ready to grab her. She screamed again and begged Cloud to help her.

"Hold on!" he urged her.

He darted to the right side of the rafters and pushed over another barrel. This one hit the top of the stairs with a bang and rolled right down the stairs, knocking the soldier down like a domino.

Another soldier was pursuing her now. With two barrels left, he pushed over the one nearest to him. Right on target! The soldier crumpled like a deck of cards, allowing Aeris to climb up to the top landing and onto the rafters.

"Aeris, this way," he called, beckoning her towards him.

They had made it to the hole in the roof of the church; a way out. They clambered out, both gasping for breath, and finally made it to safety. They were stood atop the roof of the church. The slums spread out below them, dark and decaying, looking like a scene from a post-apocalyptic world.

"They're looking for me again," Aeris laughed, as though it was such a common occurrence it had become comical.

"You mean it's not the first time they've been after you?" Cloud asked.

"… No."

"They're the Turks," he told her.

"Hmmm."

"The Turks are an organization in Shinra. They scout for possible candidates for SOLDIER."

"This violently?" Aries asked. "I thought they were kidnapping someone."

"They're also involved in a lot of dirty stuff on the side," Cloud said with scorn in his voice. "Spying, murder… you know."

"They look like it," Aeris mumbled, as if she thought the man and his cronies were still watching their every move.

"But, why're they after you?" Cloud asked, intrigued. "There must be a reason, right?"

"No, not really. I think they believe I have what it takes to be in SOLDIER!"

"Maybe you do. You want to join?"

"I don't know," Aeris mused. "But I don't want to get caught by THOSE people!"

"Then, let's go!"


	18. Safe Haven

They crossed the rooftops of the many derelict houses and warehouses, and disused shops. Cloud was quick, jumping, ducking and diving through the air as he hopped from roof to roof, but Aeris took her time, stopping at each roof and swinging her arms back and forth before making that final decision to jump.

"Wait…" called Aeris nervously. "Wait I said!"

He turned around and watched as she gingerly jumped from a roof. When she caught up with him she bent down and put her hands on her knees, breathing hard.

"Slow… down…Don't leave me…" she wheezed.

Cloud laughed to himself.

"Funny… I thought you were cut out to be in SOLDIER?"

"Oh!" she giggled. "You're terrible!"

They started to laugh and both found that they couldn't stop. Cloud was laughing so hard his chest hurt. He hadn't laughed like that for a long time.

"Hey… Cloud," she began. "Were you… ever in SOLDIER?"

He paused for a moment. It was just a simple question but one of the hardest ones to answer.

"… I used to be," he said. "How did you guess?"

"… Your eyes. They have a strange glow…"

"That's the sign of those who have been infused with Mako…" he told her. "A mark of SOLDIER. But, how did you know about that?"

She averted his gaze.

"… Oh, nothing," she whispered.

"Nothing?"

"Right, nothing! Come on, let's go! Bodyguard!"

They eventually left the rooftops and onto terra firma where junk spread out all around them. The slums were like one big junk yard, foul smelling and full of pollution. The worst thing? People lived here. They were too poor to move up onto the plate so they had no choice but to live in poverty down here, with no natural light and no fresh air. It was disgusting.

"Whew!" Aeris said, exhaling. "Finally made it off! Now what…?"

She looked around nervously and then darted left towards the main residential area of the Sector 5 Slums.

"My house is over here," she called. "Hurry before he comes."

The houses were essentially huts, rusted and grimy, with years of damage marking their exterior, and dented roofs. Cloud wondered if the many dents and pockmarks were caused by shrapnel falling from the plate above. He looked around at all the rubble and bits of scrap metal; the belly of the plate above was definitely eroding. What chance did a person have if they were stuck by one of these rogue chunks?

_None at all_ he thought miserably.

They passed a man standing in front of a large metal pipe that on first glance looked like a disused sewer tunnel. When Cloud looked closer he saw that there was a bluish light coming from inside, as if someone had got a television in there.

"That guy in the pipe's a weird one," the man said. "No matter what you ask him, he only answers 'uuh' or 'aahh'."

They stood directly in front of the pipe's entrance. Cloud saw a sickly looking man sitting on a grotty bed.

"This guy is sick," Aeris whispered. "He passed out nearby and someone must have helped him here."

They went inside. The man seemed to vaguely recognise that someone had entered because he started to groan and whine. He looked up at them pleadingly but something in his eyes was cold and lifeless.

"This is the one… Won't you help him?" Aeris urged.

"Listen, I'm no doctor," replied Cloud shaking his head.

Aeris hung her head. "No… I guess not…"

Cloud eyed the man closely. His face was gaunt, matching his deadened eyes. Whatever this man had got, it was slowly killing him. He didn't have to be a doctor to work that one out.

"Hey…" began Aeris. "That man has a tattoo. I think it was the number 2."

What did that mean? Cloud wondered. Not wanting to watch the man like he was some sort of freak show, he followed Aeris through the slums and into a passageway at the north end of the town that seemed to exude a beautiful turquoise coloured light.

The place that lay beyond was beautiful. Cloud looked around in awe. It was like a little piece of heaven had fallen from the sky and had settled in the wastelands that were the slums. It certainly didn't belong here, that was for sure. A house stood, proud and tall, amidst a garden that was full of gleaming yellow flowers. Surrounding the garden were pools of glistening water that seemed to glow vibrantly. Was this where Aeris lived? She was a very lucky woman to live in a house like this in such a hideous place.

_A little piece of heaven _Cloud thought.

Aeris led him into the house. When he entered, a beautiful smell greeted his nostrils; a mixture of fragrant flowers and cookie dough. The décor was warm and welcoming; a far cry from the dirty houses in the slums.

"I'm home, mom," Aeris called.

A warm-faced woman ambled in from the kitchen wearing a forest green dress and donning an apron. She had her hair tied up in a bun.

"This is Cloud," Aeris told her. "My bodyguard."

"Bodyguard…?" her mum asked, worry spreading across her features. "You mean you were followed again!?" She moved closer to her daughter, cupping her face in her hands. "Are you all right!? You're not hurt, are you!?"

"I'm all right," Aeris told her reassuringly. "I had Cloud with me."

Aeris' mum looked over at Cloud. "Thank you, Cloud," she told him.

Her mum left the room, leaving the two of them alone.

"So what are you going to do now?" Aeris asked him.

"…Is Sector 7 far from here? I want to go to Tifa's bar."

"Is Tifa… a girl?" she enquired as she rung her hands together nervously.

"Yeah."

"A girl… friend?"

"Girlfriend? No way!" Cloud scoffed.

Aeris hid her head in her hands and started to giggle. Cloud felt his face flush. What was going on? He didn't understand girls at all.

"You don't have to get THAT upset…" she snapped. "Well… that's nice," she added, her voice calming down. "Let's see, Sector 7? I'll show you the way."

Cloud couldn't let put her life in danger, not when the Turks were after her. He raised his concerns.

"You gotta be kidding. Why do you want to put yourself in danger again?"

"I'm used to it," she casually replied.

"Used to it?! Cloud yelled, shocked that such a kind and gentle woman could acclimatise to such brutality. Another emotion swept through him then; embarrassment. It was the one thing he had no control over; his emotions. He liked to think of himself as a cold mercenary, but truth is he had more emotions swimming around in his head than he'd like to admit.

"Well, don't know… getting help from a girl…" he said feebly.

"A girl!" Aeris yelled, her calm demeanour dissipating in a flash. "What do you mean by that!?"

He always said the wrong thing. Dammit!

"You expect me to just sit by and listen, after hearing you say something like that!?" She huffed, glaring at Cloud. "Mom! I'm taking Cloud to Sector 7. I'll be back in a while," she shouted to her, stubbornly.

Her mum descended the stairs and stood in the living room.

"But dear… I give up. You never listen once you've made up your mind. But if you must go, why don't you go tomorrow? It's getting late now."

"Yeah, you're right, mom," Aeris replied.

"Aeris, please go and make the bed," her mum ordered.

With Cloud and Aeris' mum now alone, she decided to have a little heart-to-heart with him. He found out that her name was Elmyra, but it was the only bit of information she would disclose about herself.

"That glow in your eyes… you're from SOLDIER, right?"

"Yeah. Rather I used to be…"

She paused for a moment, her features panged with concern.

"I don't know how to say this, but… would you please leave here, tonight? Without telling Aeris."

He agreed. It was probably the right thing to do. Aeris was a stubborn woman, and strong-willed, but she also appeared gullible and sensitive. She wouldn't stand a chance if the Turks caught her.

He went upstairs to get a bit of shut-eye and found Aeris on the landing.

"You need to go through Sector 6 to get to Sector 7. Sector 6 is a little dangerous so you'd better get some rest tonight."

"Okay."

"Cloud…" she called after him as he headed to his room. "Good night."

She headed downstairs.

"Oh, man…" He didn't expect it to be this hard. He went to his room and settled down in the bed.


	19. Brief Encounter

The bed was extremely comfortable, like lying on clouds. The duvet was thick and warm, and the pillows were soft and downy. He'd left his door open just a crack. A warm sliver of light from the landing slipped through the space in the door and as he looked towards it he felt his eyes getting heavier and heavier.

_Seem pretty tired._

He hadn't felt this sleepy in a while. He could get used to this.

_I haven't slept in a bed like this… in a long time._

It was just a shame that he'd have to leave this place in a few hours time; not only because he'd have to leave this room and all of its luxuries, but because he felt like he was letting Aeris down.

"Oh, yeah," Cloud thought aloud, remembering something from his past.

_Ever since that time._

He drifted off into sleep, where a familiar dream slowly started to form in his mind. He was lying on his back, spread out on a green coloured bed. The room was large, with the bedroom, kitchen and lounge combining as one. It had a beautiful warm feeling to it and a lot of emotions struck his heart; namely, nostalgia. That feeling of nostalgia was so powerful that he felt like crying. His past had come back to greet him, but he couldn't touch it. It was so close, yet so far away. He wanted to scream.

"My, how you've grown. I'll bet the girls never leave you alone."

His mother. He never forgot her voice.

"…Not really," said Cloud.

She paced the room.

"… I'm worried about you. There are a lot of temptations in the city…" She sighed. "I'd feel a lot better if you just settled down and had a nice girlfriend."

"…I'm all right," Cloud told her.

"You should have…" She paused for a moment or two. "…an older girlfriend, one that'll take care of you. I think that would be the perfect type for you."

"… I'm not interested," Cloud murmured.

He woke with a start, his heart hammering in his chest.

"… I must have fallen asleep," he whispered to himself. He was hoping for a short nap; instead, he'd drifted off into a deep sleep.

He stood up and brushed himself off. He headed to the door.

"Sector 7's past Sector 6… I should be all right by myself…"

He could hear Aeris humming to herself in the adjoining room. She was awake so he'd have to be really careful not to arouse her suspicions that he was out on the landing. He opened his door slowly and crept across the landing tentatively. The slightest sound could alert her so he had to be really careful. He crept down the stairs and eventually made it into the living room. He crept through here too, just to be on the safe side.

Back in the slums, he traipsed through the dirt tracks, passing the grimy metal huts and rusted shops. When he came to the crossroads that led to the different sectors, he was shocked and a little disorientated when he bumped into Aeris. How…? She was in her room just ten minutes ago! This wasn't going to plan at all…

"You're up bright and early," she said chirpily.

Cloud sighed and shook his head.

"How could I ask you to go along when I knew it would be dangerous?" he said.

Aeris let out an annoyed sigh.

"Are you done?" she asked him, her arms folded. "You have to go through the slum in Sector 6 to get to Tifa's 7th Heaven. I'll take you there. Come on!"

Cloud reluctantly followed her across a cracked concrete road. Massive cracks cut through it, raising it in parts and rendering it impossible to navigate; that's if it weren't for the dedication of the slum-folk. They had 'built' ramps made out of wood so that people could walk to the raised sections and get across to the other end of the sector. Cloud and Aeris eventually reached the other side.

A dilapidated play-area was at the other side, with a small area of waste-ground behind it. He doubted that any parent would let their child play on the broken slide and swings there; but children had to have fun, didn't they? What else was there for them to do?

"The gate to Sector 7's in there," Aeris told him, pointing towards the waste-ground.

"Thanks. I guess this is goodbye," he told her, hoping she'd take the hint. "You gonna be all right going home?"

"Oh no!" she blurted. "Whatever will I do!?"

Cloud looked at her and furrowed his brow. What was all that about?

"…Isn't that what you want me to say?"

"So, you really want to come with me?" Cloud asked her.

"I could do that. But won't I be in your way?"

"What do you mean in the way?"

Aeris smiled. "Nothing!"

She took a sharp intake of breath.

"Can we take a break?" she asked.

Cloud thought it would be a good idea. He could use one, after all. He wasn't made of steel.

They walked through the gate leading to the play area and stopped there for a while. Aeris looked up at a metal dome that appeared to depict a cute, round monster of some sort. The slide that came out of it was supposed to be its tongue.

"I can't believe it's still here," said Aeris.

As quick as a cat, she ran around the dome, climbed up and sat down on top of it.

"Cloud, over here!" she called.

He followed, and sat down next to her. It was oddly reminiscent of that time he and Tifa sat at the well back in Nibelheim. Thinking about it gave him a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"What rank were you?"

"Rank?"

"You know, in SOLDIER."

"Oh, I was…" A flashback caught him off guard. In a split second it had come, and in a split second it had gone again. "First Class."

"Just the same as him," Aeris said, her voice drifting off.

"The same as who?"

"My first boyfriend."

"You were… serious?" he asked her.

"No. But I liked him for a while."

"I probably knew him. What was his name?"

"It doesn't really matter," Aeris said, her voice taking on a melancholic edge as she thought of old memories.

In the background was a large concrete wall with a metal gate fitted in the centre. The gate opened up with a low rumble, causing Cloud to turn and look. A Chocobo scampered out pulling an elaborate, maroon and purple coloured carriage cart. He glanced inside and could have sworn he saw Tifa sat inside, wearing a shiny purple dress.

"Huh? Hey, back there…" He stood up. "Tifa!?"

Aeris had also stood up.

"That girl in the cart was Tifa? Where was she going? She looked kind of odd…"

The carriage cart continued right and had rounded the corner so fast that Cloud knew he'd have little chance at catching up to her.

Aeris, seemingly eager to find out more about Tifa, jumped off the slide and tried to catch up with her.

"Wait!" Cloud yelled after her. "I'll go on alone! You go home!"

He shook his head and sighed. He had no choice but to follow her. He jumped off the slide and headed after Aeris.


	20. Desperate Measures

He eventually found Aeris in a vast marketplace that was brimming with stalls and ramshackle shops, and full of all sorts of shady people.

"This place is scary in a lot of ways," Aeris began. "Especially for a girl. So we've got to find Tifa fast."

They started their search at some sort of dodgy inn. A few shady men were stood outside, as well as a Shinra soldier and a scantily clad woman with a heavily made-up face. The place gave him the creeps. He didn't want Tifa to hang around in a place like this!

"Welcome!" a suited-up man greeted them as they walked towards the entrance. "Even unpopular dweebs like you may meet their destiny here! You looking for a girlfriend too?"

"You know a girl named Tifa?" Cloud asked.

"Hey, you're pretty fast," said the man. "Tifa's our newest girl. But unfortunately, she's having an interview right now. Here at the Honey Bee Inn, it's customary for all the new girls to be taken to Don Corneo's mansion. Don Corneo's a famous dilettante. Now he wants to settle down and is in the market for a bride.

What had Tifa gotten herself involved in? Don Corneo? Bride? He needed to find her. And _fast. _He and Aeris asked around for the whereabouts of this man and his mansion and eventually tracked it down at the very north end of the marketplace.

The mansion wasn't what he expected. The walls had been painted gold and seemed to glisten in the unnatural light of the marketplace. He was getting an impression of this Don Corneo character already; a loudmouth, vulgar in both appearance and speech, someone who thought they were the bee's knees and looked like a million gil even though they were ugly. And he hadn't even met the guy yet!

A muscle man was stood outside the mansion, his arms bristling.

"This is the mansion of Don Corneo, the most powerful man in Wall Market." He raised an eyebrow and looked Cloud up and down. "Look, the Don's not into men. So don't let me catch you around here again…"

He switched his gaze and now peered at Aeris, his eyes stopping at her breasts and then tracing all the way down to her legs.

"Hey, and you got another cute one with you!"

They edged backwards so that they could talk without Mr. Muscle listening in on their conversation.

"I'll go take a look," said Aeris. "I'll tell Tifa about you."

"No!" yelled Cloud. "You can't!"

"Why?"

"You DO know… what kind of… place this is, don't you?"

"Then what am I supposed to do? You want to go in with me?"

"Well being a man, that'll be pretty hard. Besides, if I bust in there, it'll cause too much commotion. But, I just can't let you go in alone… Oh, man… First… we need to find out if Tifa's alright…"

He got the distinct impression that Aeris wasn't taking him very seriously, considering that she had turned away and was giggling madly to herself.

"What's so funny, Aeris?"

She turned to face him, her face red and her eyes watery from laughter.

"Cloud, why don't you dress up like a girl? It's the only way."

"WHAT!?" Cloud screamed, so loudly that he almost burst his own eardrums.

She wouldn't even listen to him protest against the idea. She'd already run to Mr. Muscle.

"Just wait," he could hear her telling him. "I've got a cute friend I want to bring."

He could feel his face turning beet red.

"Aeris!" he pleaded. "I can't…"

Aeris pouted and put her hands on her hips.

"You ARE worried about Tifa, aren't you? Then come on, hurry!"

She was right, there. And Tifa was his childhood friend, after all.

_Oh man_ he thought. _The things I do for girls. I can't even understand them! Someone HELP!_

Cloud reluctantly followed Aeris to a clothing shop that catered for girls. The décor was girly and purple and the air smelled of cloying fragrances that made his nose sore.

"Excuse me!" said Aeris, getting the clerk's attention. "I'd like to get a dress."

"Um… it might take a little time," the clerk said. "Will that be all right?"

"What's the problem?" Aeris asked her.

"Well, my father, the owner, has been in a slump lately. You see, he makes all the dresses."

"And where is your father?"

"He's probably plastered at the bar."

"So… you're saying we can't get a dress unless we do something about your father?"

The clerk dipped her head.

"Yes, I'm sorry. He's caused so much trouble. You'd help me bring him back?"

"Well, if we don't do something, we don't get a dress, right?"

"Really!?" she cried, her face lighting up. "Please help my crazy old dad. I just don't know what to do anymore…"

"All right, we'll do something. Let's go, Cloud!"

They left the clothes shop and headed to the nearby bar. It was run down and gaudy, with faux wood tables that looked worn and tatty and gold coloured bar stools. A drunken man was sat at the bar with his head in his hands. This man, Cloud thought, definitely appeared to be in some sort of slump.

"Excuse us," Aeris began. "Are you the father of the girl at the Clothing Store?"

He turned around. Drool was hanging out of his mouth and his eyes looked distant.

"I own the Clothes Shop… but I ain't your father," he slurred.

Aeris sighed. "I didn't say that…"

"Make me some clothes," Cloud said, a little impatiently. He didn't have time for this! He needed to save Tifa!

"I don't make men's clothes," the girl's father said miserably. "And I don't feel like makin' anything right now."

Aeris turned to Cloud.

"Cloud, you wait over there for a second. I'll try and talk to him. Why don't you go over there and have something to drink."

Cloud didn't want a drink. Instead, he turned away and pretended not to listen.

"You know, Mister," she began. "He always said that just once, he'd like to dress up like a girl. So that's why I wanted a cute dress for him…"

He turned around to take another look at Cloud. His brow furrowed and then he raised an eyebrow.

"What!?" he snorted. "A tough lookin' guy like that?"

Cloud closed his eyes and breathed deeply. For Tifa; he was doing this for Tifa.

"So, how 'bout it? Will you make him one?"

The man smiled. "…Might be interesting. "I was gettin' a little bored just makin' regular clothes."

"Then you'll do it for us?" Aeris asked.

"Yeah, all right. What kind of dress you want?"

"Something that feels soft, and something that shimmers."

"Hmm, got it. Y'know I got a friend that has the same taste as him. I'll go talk to him."

The dress maker told Cloud that his dress would be completed in about an hour, but that hour seemed to last a lifetime. While he waited, Cloud wondered about Tifa's fate and why she would like to have a chance of being Don Corneo's wife. It was so out of character for her. He wondered if she was up to something. Knowing Tifa, she probably was. It put his mind at rest a little bit. Besides, she knew how to handle herself.

Cloud and Aeris entered the shop again when the hour was up.

"Oh, you're here," said the dress maker. "It's ready. Go try it on."

The man handed cloud a very awkward looking silk dress adorned with little bits of lace and some embroidered flowers. What the heck was he doing? He shook his head and watched Aeris as she bounded up to the fitting room at the back of the shop. She motioned for him to follow her and he did so, albeit reluctantly.

He closed the door and took the dress off its hanger. He flung off his boots and clothes and tried to put the dress on over his head, but a part of it got caught on his left shoulder and wouldn't budge. Sweat was dripping from his brow and his arm was bent in an awkward way. He wriggled his way out of the dress and tried to lift it up over his legs instead. That didn't seem to work either.

"How… do you put this on?" Cloud asked sheepishly.

He expected Aeris to talk to him through the door. Instead she opened it slightly and peered in. For a girl to see him in nothing but his boxers and a silk dress tangled around his shoulders was quite possibly his worst nightmare.

"Whoa!" he screamed. "What are you doing!"

He managed to quickly pull the dress down, finally getting his whole body in it and not just his shoulders. He felt like a fish. How did girls walk in these things? In fact, how did they do _anything_ in them?

"It's still not right," Aeris said, eying him. "A wig! That's what you need!"

_A WIG?!_

"Umm, I thought you might," the dress maker piped up, "so I talked to my friend about getting one." He looked over at the dressing room and raised his voice so that Cloud could hear him. "You know the gym? You'll find a lot of people there like you. Go and talk to them."

"… 'Like you'?" He turned to Aeris. "Aeris, what did you tell him?"

"Does it matter?" she asked, waving her arms in the air. "Anyhow, we got a pretty dress!"

Reluctantly, Cloud made his way to the gym to meet the people that were, apparently, 'just like him'. The stench of sweat and testosterone hit him as he entered. Buff guys covered in oil stood around flexing their muscles and generally showing off. Aeris, he noticed, didn't quite know which guy to stand and stare at. Personally, he couldn't understand what she was finding so fascinating to look at.

A boxing ring, complete with sweaty boxers, was on the far right of the gym. A smallish man in a cyan top was watching them and egging them on. He turned to the newcomers and looked Cloud up and down with intrigued eyes.

"You the one… who wants to be cute?" he asked him with a wink.

"Cute?"

"Right." Aeris replied, nodding. "And about the wig…"

"Yeah, I heard," the man said. "But it'll cost ya."

A massive black man about six feet tall and as wide as a house charged over to them emitting something that could only be described as a war cry.

"Big Bro!" he bellowed. "The only way you're gonna get cuter is if you can beat Big Bro!"

"That's right!" the two boxers suddenly interjected. They jumped out of the ring like they were on fire. "So, you've got to compete with us!"

"You're right," the smallish man said. "Let's do squats."

"All right! We'll beat you out of this gym!" the boxers yelled.

Cloud turned to the man.

"Are you…?" he began.

"THE beautiful Bro?" Aeris finished.

"What?" Big Bro scoffed, acting offended. "You didn't know? Always running around here sayin' Big Bro' this, Big Bro' that…" He gestured to the black man. "Never mind that, come over here."

Big Bro explained to Cloud how to squat. It seemed easy enough.

"Whoever has the most squats after 30 seconds gets the wig," he said.

Cloud's opponent put his fists up in a fierce fighting stance and gritted his teeth. He really wanted this wig. Why, Cloud wondered?

"I'm not going to lose," the man said. "Big Bro's wig is MINE!"

"Just be quiet…" Big Bro sighed. He turned to Cloud. "It's not fair for you to start right away, so, you want some practice?

"Don't need practice," Cloud replied coolly.

"Now, let's begin the real thing." Big Bro yelled. "Start!"

It was easy at first, but on the fifth or so squat he suddenly found himself losing momentum. He needed this wig if he was going to be in with a chance of saving Tifa, so he had to push himself harder. He could feel his muscles tense up as he progressed, and a hot sweat had begun to trickle down his back. To his relief, his opponent was beginning to slow down. His eyes looked pained. Was that because he was hurting or because he thought he was going to lose out on Big Bro's wig?

_Focus!_ Cloud thought to himself.

He quickened his pace, his breath coming out in tiny gasps and his muscles screaming out in agony. He could do this!

Big Bro came over and announced the results when it was finally over.

"He had 15 squats," pointing towards Cloud's opponent, "and you had 18 squats. You're really something. Okay, I'm a man of my word, here you are."

Big Bro handed Cloud a silky blonde wig that looked almost like real hair. It glistened in the yellowy light of the gym and was lightweight as well. He twisted and turned it in his fingers. He had never given wigs much thought before, but this was exceptionally well made. If it gave him a chance of getting into the mansion, then he was going to wear it, no doubt about it.

"I'm so mad, I'm so so so-mad!" Cloud's opponent suddenly screeched. Tears were running down the man's face and he was sobbing with each breath.

_He must have really wanted that wig_ Cloud thought.

Without warning, Big Bro lunged forwards and gave the black man an upper cut to the face. He flew through the air, hitting the floor with an almighty crack that sent shockwaves through Cloud's bones.

"Shut up!" he bellowed. "Don't cry, just because you lost!"

The man whined. "Bro's fists of steel cut to the bone!"

The crowd rushed to the downed man's side and Cloud and Aeris decided that now was an ample time to leave. Tifa was putting her dignity and her life on the line by getting involved with this Don character, and time was wasting. Besides, that Big Bro was a bit of a funny character. Calm and collected the one minute, punching someone so hard they're flying across the room the next.

Aeris said that she was a little thirsty so Cloud took her to the bar to grab a drink. He was all right, but it would be wrong of him to drag Aeris along without any food or drink in her system. He could cope just fine. As they entered, Cloud's gaze caught a man leaning against the wall next to the washroom with a pained expression on his face. He looked over to Cloud.

"Hey, could you do somethin' for me? Someone's been in there all day and they're not comin' out. I can't hold it anymore!"

Cloud knocked on the washroom door but it opened instead, startling both him and the occupant.

"HEY… someone's IN here… don't look!"

This was ridiculous, Cloud thought. Aeris got herself a drink while Cloud wondered about what to do. To be honest, he was never in to helping people with their mundane issues. He had more pressing matters to contend with.

His stomach began to rumble. Perhaps he could do with a bite to eat after all. They walked through Wall Market, eventually stumbling across a small diner that had been set up in a tent. Anyone would be dubious about eating in a diner that was, essentially, a tent, but the smells wafting from it were delicious, so Cloud and Aeris went inside.

"Welcome!" a cheery man said to them. "Sit wherever you like!"

They sat down. A long dining table spanned the length of the diner. Men were scoffing down their dinner like they hadn't been fed for a month, so the food must have been good. He could at least give it a go.

"Yes, what will you have?"

"Korean B.B.Q Plate, please," Cloud replied.

Aeris wasn't hungry, she decided, so she didn't have anything.

"One Korean B.B.Q Plate," the waiter confirmed.

"Comin' up!" said the chef.

"In this store, you pay first. It'll be 70 gil."

Cloud handed the waiter the gil. His dish came out remarkably fast, but the food itself tasted a little bit like cardboard. Still, at least it filled him up.

"How was the food?" asked the waiter as he took away the empty plate.

"It was alright," Cloud replied.

"Thank you. Here's an item coupon for the Pharmacy." He handed it to Cloud. "You can exchange it for one item there."

Oh dear. That didn't sound too good. Perhaps this diner was the reason why the toilets back in the bar had been in use for a whole day. His stomach turned. Perhaps eating here wasn't such a good idea after all.

They decided to go to the Pharmacy. Aeris suggested that they use the coupon for some kind of stomach medicine for the girl in the toilet. Cloud guessed it couldn't hurt to try. Besides, he had no need for any medicine and neither did Aeris.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the guy behind the counter. "Why don't you say something if you're standing there?" The clerk glanced down at the coupon in Cloud's hand. "Oh, you have a coupon. Then please select any one medicine you like."

Cloud eyed the selection of medicines and saw a small plastic bottle labelled 'Digestive'.

"I'll take the Digestive," Cloud said as he handed over the coupon. The clerk accepted the coupon, placed it into the till and handed him the bottle.

Back in the bar, Cloud quietly opened the door to the washroom and handed the sick woman the bottle of Digestive.

"Huh? You'll really give me some?" the woman asked between heaves. Her face was green. It definitely looked like she needed it! "Thanks."

She took the bottle off him and he closed the door behind her. A few minutes later the woman came out.

"Phew, I feel better now," she told him. "This is for your kindness."

To both his and Aeris' astonishment, the woman handed Cloud a small bottle of woman's perfume called 'Sexy Cologne'. It was an apt prize to receive, and would definitely make him _smell_ like a woman. He just hoped that the dress and the wig would hide his masculinity. He couldn't stand by and do nothing while Tifa was in there being drooled on by that letch.

They both decided that, with the dress, the wig and now the perfume, Cloud was well on his way to looking believable as a woman. Firstly though, he decided to stop off at a shop to get some supplies before storming the mansion.

"Hey man," the clerk whispered. "Got a minute?" He quietened his voice even more. "I need to talk… man to man."

"What is it?" Cloud asked.

The man's face lit up. "Really! I really appreciate it!" He looked over at Aeris. "I'm sorry but, young lady? Would you turn the other way, for a second?"

"Why?" Aeris asked, bemused.

"…Aeris," Cloud sighed. Why did girls have to be so difficult all the time?

"Gosh!" she gasped, turning around.

"I'm sorry, lady," the clerk said to Aeris. He turned his gaze back to Cloud. "Now here's the thing. Do you know that vending machine in the Inn? I'm itchin' to know what they're selling in it. I just can't ask a girl to go get it."

"Why don't you buy it yourself?"

"What? Why don't I buy it myself? Well to tell you the truth, I got in a fight with the guy at the Inn and can't go there anymore. Come on, so how 'bout it?"

Another errand? Well, he couldn't see why not. It would probably only take a minute at most.

"I'll do it."

"Good, thanks. I'll be waitin' here when you're done."

"Finished?" Aeris grumbled.

At the Inn was the vending machine the clerk had mentioned. Cloud eyed it up. There were three choices. You could put 50 gil in, 100 gil, or 200 gil. Cloud opted for the most expensive one but Aeris would rather have had him go for the cheapest. Money wasn't an issue for him, however.

With the prize in hand, they walked back to the shop.

"I got it," Cloud told him.

The clerk, who was resting behind the counter, sat up.

"Oh, really!" He looked sharply over at Aeris. "Hey!"

She rolled her eyes at him and stomped over to the other side of the room, turning her back.

"Geez!"

"And, what was it?" the clerk asked, his eyes eager.

Cloud handed him the prize from the vending machine. The clerk looked at it and crinkled his nose in disgust.

"A protein drink set. That jerk. I'm gonna do so much more business than him, his head'll spin. Thanks, bud. I'm motivated now. Take this, it's not much…"

Cloud couldn't believe it when the clerk reached for a shelf and pulled down a glistening Diamond Tiara. This would complete the outfit perfectly! He couldn't quite believe that he was getting this excited over a piece of woman's jewellery, but his enthusiasm was more for Tifa. He could save her now.

Not wanting to waste any more time, he and Aeris raced to the Honey Bee Inn, hoping to catch Tifa before it was too late.


	21. What a Man's Gotta do

Cloud and Aeris made their way to the shady Inn. On their way there they noticed a man mumbling to himself.

"Nope, I just can't make up my mind." Seemingly detecting that someone was behind him, he whizzed around on the spot. "Here, you take this." He handed some sort of card to Cloud. "You won't be able to get in without it."

It was a Member's Card for the Inn. This chance encounter was quite astonishing. It had completely slipped Cloud's mind that they might need some kind of card to gain entry.

"Hey!" said the urbane-looking man in the black business suit stood outside the Inn's entrance. "Is that a Member's Card I see shining in your hot little hand?"

Cloud showed him the card.

"Please, come in."

There was a crowd forming outside. A swarm of men gathered around Aeris, some ducking low to the ground to try and peek up her dress. Cloud watched her as she nervously tried to dodge them, but none of them seemed to be able to take no for an answer.

"Hmm. That's how you'll fool them," Cloud said to her.

Aeris shot him an annoyed glance.

"…Hmm. That's how you fooled them," Aeris retorted.

Cloud was dumbfounded. What did she mean by that? He would never be able to understand girls. He brushed his hand over his hair awkwardly and then announced, "Let's go!"

They stepped through into the Honey Bee Inn and into a circular lobby with doors on each of the walls. A pretty girl sashayed over to them wearing a honeybee costume and full make-up.

"Poo, I uh, mean, Sir… Hurry…"

They needed a room, but they weren't sure which ones were occupied and which ones were empty. Cloud sauntered up to the door on the upper right, and read the plaque at the top which read 'The Lovers Room'. He put his ear against the door first and heard that it was occupied. Then he looked inside via the key-hole.

"…Woo…ow!"

He heard someone gasping for breath and saw an elderly man dressed up in a suit, huffing and wheezing. What the heck was he up to, Cloud wondered? After a bit of adjustment, he managed to be able to see a little bit more of the room, this time focusing on an old woman. They were rather hot and sweaty and that was when Cloud decided he'd seen enough.

This time he checked out 'The Queen's Room' and saw something very weird going on in there. Bright flashes of light lit up the room, almost blinding him. A few men were sat around the room staring at another, rather round man, dressed up in some sort of lavish royal outfit.

"…_The wind's calm now…"_ a familiar sounding voice said. _"It's the curse of the resurrected Satan… Our beloved Queen does not awaken…"_

The lavishly dressed man that bore the resemblance of the President got up and started pacing.

"_The time is ripe…"_

Cloud saw another man, dead ahead of him, dressed in an immaculately tailored suit. He was laughing heartily.

"_A legend has been passed on through generations…"_

He could hear two Shinra soldiers in full garb whispering to each other. It was barely audible.

"Hey, shouldn't we stop him soon? We have a luncheon with President Shinra…"

"You tell him…"

"I can't tell him.."

"Come on! Oh, well…"

"… _the sought after Promised Land…"_ the voice carried on.

"I'm so disgusted with the President," one of the Shinra soldiers whispered. "It's like this every time we have a business trip to Midgar."

"… _One with blue eyes…"_

"We come all the way to Midgar, just for this…"

"… _And a great white sword on his back…"_

"What're you complaining about? You're just holding the lights. I've gotta wear this heavy armour!"

"… _Will not lead to the Promised Land…"_

"I know, I know… but it's all part of the job."

"Oh yeah, did you hear? The President's wife found out about this little hobby of his."

"Ha, ha… No way, that's the first I've heard of it."

"Oh, looks like he's done. Man, I'm glad!"

"Geez!" one of the Shinra soldiers yelled suddenly. "Mr. President! I mean, Your Majesty… Ohhh, I'm sorry. Please remove the ancient curse!"

Cloud withdrew his face from the keyhole and shook his head. So that's what the President got up to in his spare time…

Cloud decided to check out the door on the north wall this time whilst Aeris waited in the lobby and found that it was unlocked. When he walked in he saw three girls dressed up in honeybee costumes admiring themselves in front of a vanity mirror. One appeared to be quite agitated and kept sighing as she looked at herself.

"Ohhh, I just can't seem to lose weight."

She briskly turned around and gasped.

"Sir! You can't come in here."

She pulled a disgusted face, not taking her eyes off him.

"Yuk… a pervert…" she mumbled to herself.

He left the room sharpish and looked into the room on the lower left side of the lobby instead. This room was called 'The Group Room'. He didn't bother to look inside, but it sounded empty so he decided to go for it, while Aeris chose to occupy the room on the upper left.

"Looks like it's unoccupied," Cloud said.

He called the girl in the honeybee costume over and told her that he'd take the room.

"All right," she said. "Now all we have to do is enter the room. You're not going to have a change of heart, are you?"

"Don't make me repeat myself," Cloud replied coldly.

"Oh, don't be angry with me…" she whimpered, her honeybee costume shaking.

She unlocked the door and motioned for him to enter. He walked inside, the girl following him and locking the door behind her.

"Shall we begin?" she said, walking over to a hot tub filled with steaming hot water. Oh, he could actually get used to this.

"I guess since you chose this room," the girl began, "that would mean you… hate being lonely?"

"I'm always alone," Cloud replied.

"All right, all right," the girl moaned. "Come on, everyone's waiting."

Everyone? Who was everyone? His question was soon answered when he heard the door squeak open and saw about a dozen men run into the room. They were big and muscled, shiny with oil and lotions and slicked back hair. They were also wearing tight spandex costumes, each one a different colour. Cloud gulped and tried to find a good excuse to take his leave, but his brain went dead.

They gathered around Cloud, looking him up and down.

"Wassup!" one of them excitedly exclaimed.

"Oh man…" Cloud grumbled.

_Looks like I'm always going to be facing crises all my life…_

"Don't be so embarrassed!" the muscled man said. "Loosen up, bubby! Let's wash off all our sweat and dirt together!"

Cloud tried to back away, but he was cornered. They started to advance on him, all of them, all at the same time. How could he get out of this particular crisis? Dammit!

"Bubby! You're the intimate type, huh!"

He guessed he had no choice but to go along with this. He stripped down to his boxer shorts and joined them in the hot tub. He felt like a tinned sardine. A very embarrassed tinned sardine. His face was burning up and his heart was hammering. Every time one of the men brushed a hand over him he flinched and tensed his body up. He thought back to his time in SOLDIER and couldn't remember anything as bad as this. This was, quite possibly, the worst crisis he'd ever had to endure.

The man introduced himself as Mukki.

"Isn't bathing great…?" Mukki said to Cloud. "It soothes your heart. How is it, bubby!? Feels good, huh?"

"It hurts," Cloud truthfully replied. "Too stuffy in here…"

"You'll get used to it. Try counting to ten."

"Ten… Nine…"

"Hey bubby, how old are you?"

"Eight… Twenty one…"

"You're less than half my age. I'm so jealous."

Mukka seemed to ponder for a moment or two.

"So how 'bout it…? Do you wanna join my 'Young bubby's' group?"

"Seven… six… maybe in another life."

Mukka sighed. "Well, if that's how you feel… too bad. We have a trip planned at a cabin out in the country."

"Five… four… three… two… one… all right, that's ten. I'm getting' out."

"Why don't you stick around and play a bit?" Mukka let out a sigh. "Daddy's so lonely…"

Cloud didn't care. He got out, quickly dried off and popped his clothes back on. To his alarm, they all decided to get out too, as if they were dead set on following him around like puppies.

"Bubby!" Mukki wailed. "This is important to me. Here's a memento of our time together!"

He handed him a pair of silky bikini briefs. Cloud let out a little nervous laugh as he fiddled with them nervously.

"Hope we meet again!" Mukki cried joyously as if sharing a hot tub with Cloud was the most fulfilling part of his life.

When he was alone in the room, Cloud took a good look at the bikini briefs. They were bright purple and extremely shiny.

"This is SOME underwear… I'm supposed to wear this…?" He scrutinized the briefs a little more. "Well, if it's to save Tifa… I guess there's no way around."

He thought back to the room in the north part of the lobby, the one where the women were applying make-up to themselves in the vanity mirrors. If he was really serious about this then a bit of make-up would certainly make him look like a woman.

"If I were to dress up like a woman… then I've got to really prepare carefully," he said to himself as he stood in the room. "Seems like I could put make-up on here."

He cleared his throat and gulped, then said something to one of the women that he never expected to say in a million years.

"I have a favour to ask of you. Can you put make-up on me too?"

She complied, albeit hesitantly at first, and looking at him like he'd just asked her to chop his head off, and plastered his face with all sorts of powders and creams. His face felt weird and heavy. His lips were tingling. The girl told him that this was because it was a special kind of lipstick that made lips plumper. He just hoped it wasn't a permanent effect!

"…Oh my…" the girl said to him as she gawped at him. Looking at himself in the mirror, he nearly recoiled in shock. His cheeks were rosy and his lips shiny and huge. His eyelids were now purple and his eyelashes were coated in thick black mascara. He should have felt grateful; he did indeed look like a woman.

He met up with Aeris outside, and they made their way to the clothes shop to change. Cloud nervously paced the shop. Was he really going to do this? Yes. For Tifa. His childhood friend.

"Aren't you going to change?" Aeris prompted him.

"Okay… I'm ready."

He entered the dressing room, placing the dress on the hanger on the wall. He pulled the bikini briefs out of his pocket and inspected them. He gulped.

_Just think of it like a mission. Someone has to do the dirty work. And this time, there's a good reward. I get to save Tifa._

Wasting little time, Cloud stripped, pulled off his boxer shorts and slipped the bikini briefs on. They sure were tight! He could barely move! He paced the dressing room and could only walk in little dainty steps.

_Well at least they make me walk like a woman…_

He pulled on the dress. It was easier this time. He knew how it worked. He sprayed some Sexy Cologne on and instantly regretted doing so in a cramped dressing room. The stuff was so cloyingly sweet it made his head spin, his nose sting and his throat close up. How did girls wear this stuff?!

The wig was itchy, but when he looked in the mirror he found that all essence of his manliness was gone, and that was his goal. The tiara! He'd almost forgotten about that. He whipped it out and placed it on top of his head. A few cute ringlets cascaded over it. He hated to admit it, but he looked incredibly pretty.

He shuffled out of the changing room, feeling like all eyes were on him.

"Hmm, not bad," said the dressmaker. "This may be a new business for me."

"Yeah, you're right," his daughter piped up. "Should we try it?" She turned to Cloud and Aeris. "Thanks for showing us something new. My father's got his motivation back now, so the dress is on the house."

Aeris turned to Cloud.

"Walk more nicely like… this." She swayed her hips and lifted her head high, swinging her arms extravagantly. "Miss Cloud." She tittered excitedly to herself.

"What do you mean 'nicely'?"

She sighed and paced across the room, demonstrating again, the exact art of walking like a girl. He followed suit, and felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him when everyone started giggling.

"Oh you're so cute, Miss Cloud."

She turned to the dressmaker's daughter.

"Aaah, I want one. Do you have one that'll look good on me too?"

"How's this?" she replied, pointing to a shimmering navy coloured dress on the rail.

"How about that one?" the dressmaker said, motioning towards a silky black number.

"Father, what are you talking about? This one's much better."

"No, what are you saying? This one."

Aeris ignored the both of them. A dress had caught her eye. She walked over and plucked it from the rail.

"…I want THIS one," she said defiantly. She was clutching a strapless ruby red dress that sparkled in the artificial light.

Dressmaker and daughter looked at each other and wrinkled their noses.

"Huh?" they said in unison.

"I'm going to change," Aeris said as she hopped into the dressing room. "No peeking!"

When she came out, Cloud was speechless. She looked beautiful. While she was in there, she'd taken out the plait in her hair and wore a simple ponytail. Cloud could not believe how much cuter she actually looked.

"So?" she asked, brushing a piece of hair out of her face. "How do I look?"

Cloud just smiled sheepishly, unable to mutter a single word.

"Oh, you're no fun!" Aeris snapped.

They thanked the girl and her father and made their way to Don Corneo's Mansion, where the real mission now awaited them…


	22. Plan of Action

They bumped into the muscle man again. Tactless and with seemingly little morals, he piped up, "Damn! Your friend's hot, too!"

Hey, at least it was re-assuring. He did intend to look like a girl after all.

"Come in, come in!"

Mr. Muscle turned round and rapped hard on the big wooden doors.

"Two ladies coming through!"

The mansion wasn't as big as Cloud thought. It was more like a large, bland, wooden house that the Don had blinged up with gaudy gold ornaments and lavish colourful carpets made out of the finest cashmere. He had his own receptionist, a small smarmy looking man with a crooked smile and creepy eyes. Cloud could imagine those eyes as the sort that secretly undresses a woman. He felt like throwing up at the thought but then had to suppress a fit of the giggles as he imagined the man doing it to him. If only he knew what was really underneath this dress!

"Hey, ladies," the man greeted with a nasally voice. "I'll go and let the Don know you're here. Wait here. Don't go wondering around…"

She waited until the receptionist was out of earshot and then Aeris said to Cloud, "Now's our chance. Let's find Tifa."

They mooched around for a bit, until Cloud found a door on the first floor landing that was slightly ajar. They crept inside and found themselves peering down a flight of dank concrete steps into a murky cellar. They couldn't see much from up here so Cloud decided to take the plunge and enter the murky depths. To their dismay, it wasn't a cellar but a grotesque torture chamber. What the heck did this Don bloke get up to?!

A girl dressed in a beautiful royal blue dress was standing in the corner but neither Cloud nor Aeris could make out her features because the corner she was standing in was obscured by shadows.

"…Tifa?" Aeris called.

The girl in the blue dress ambled over to her.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Aeris. Cloud's told me a lot about you."

"…And you are?" asked Tifa. Her face suddenly changed, as if she was recalling a memory. "Hey you're the one with Cloud in the park…"

Aeris' face began to flush. "Right, with Cloud."

"Oh…" said Tifa.

"Don't worry. We just met. It's nothing."

"What do you mean 'Don't worry'… about what?" She shook her head abruptly. "No, don't misunderstand. Cloud and I grew up together. Nothing more."

Aeris tried to stifle a giggle, but couldn't.

"Poor Cloud, having to stand here and listen to both of us call him nothing," she said. She turned to him. "Right, Cloud?"

Tifa's eyes went wide.

"Cloud?"

Cloud decided it was time for his cue. He rushed towards Tifa and stood right in front of her. She peered at his eyes, at his nose and his chin and then her jaw seemed to gape open.

"Cloud!?" she gasped. "Why are you dressed like that!? And what are you doing here!? Forget that, what happened to you after the fall!? Are you hurt!?"

Cloud shook his head. Why did girls always ask you questions and not give you time to answer the first one before they fired you with another?

"Hey, give me a chance to answer. I'm dressed like this… because there was no other way to get in here. I'm all right. Aeris helped me out."

He saw a flash of something not very nice in Tifa's eyes. Was it jealousy, perhaps?

"Oh, Aeris did…"

"Tifa, explain. What are you doing in a place like this?" Cloud asked, his tone serious."

"Yeah, ummm…"

Aeris suddenly chimed, "Ahem! I'll just plug my ears," and then walked to the far corner of the room.

"…I'm glad you're OK," Tifa cooed.

"Thanks. What happened?"

"When we got back from the Number 5 reactor, there was this weird man. So Barret caught him and squeezed some information out of him."

"That's when the Don's name popped up," Cloud established.

"Right, Don Corneo. Barret told me to leave the letch alone. But something's been bothering me."

"I see. So you wanted to get the story straight from Corneo's mouth," Cloud said.

"So I made it here, but now I'm in a bind." Tifa gulped hard. A pleading look crept into her eyes. "Corneo is looking for a bride. Everyday, he gets three girls, chooses one of them, and then… and, well…" she stammered, her voice filled with unease. "Anyway, I have to be the girl, or I'm out for tonight."

Cloud admired her girth. She was scared stiff, but this was a mission, like any other. Someone had to do the dirty work…

"Sorry…" a voice interjected, "but I overheard…"

Aeris walked over to Cloud and Tifa with a smug grin on her face.

"If you know the three girls, there's no problem, right?"

"I guess so," replied Tifa. "But…"

"We have two here, right?" Aeris interrupted, brushing off Tifa's hesitance.

"No, Aeris!" yelled Cloud. "I can't have you get involved."

"Oh? So it's all right for Tifa to be in danger?"

"No, I don't want Tifa in…"

Tifa gave him a stern look, prompting him to stop talking. She walked over to Aeris.

"Is it all right?" she asked her.

"I grew up in the slums… I'm used to danger," Aeris replied. "Do you trust me?"

Tifa nodded. "Yes. Thanks, Ms. Aeris."

"Call me Aeris," she told her.

A loud voice boomed down the staircase. It was the creepy receptionist dude. He waved at them.

"It's time, ladies. The Don is waiting!"


	23. Chosen

"I told you not to wander around…," the man muttered irritably. "I tell ya, women nowadays."

Cloud never got butterflies… until now. They were really intense. He felt sick. Scared. Weak at the knees, and not in a good way. Part of it, he expected, was a fear of the unknown. He had never had to do this before.

"Hurry up, will ya!" the man yelled at the foot of the stairs, jolting Cloud from his nervous thoughts.

"I probably don't need to ask but the other girl is… me… right?" Cloud asked gingerly.

"You're right, there was no need…" began Tifa.

"… to ask," Aeris finished.

They giggled between themselves like schoolgirls. Cloud gave an irritated sigh. This might be funny to them, but did they not realise the seriousness of it all?

The Don's room was gaudy to say the least. The décor was more-or-less the same as the rest of the mansion, but with a bit of added oomph. The Don himself was sat at a red coloured desk that lay behind a rug with two intertwining serpents embellished on it, a man so ugly and with such a bad taste in clothes, that Cloud wondered how he could make any woman look twice at him. He wore his fake-blond hair in a grotesque Mohawk. His clothes were tacky and bright coloured, even brighter than his surroundings.

"All right, ladies!" one of the Don's henchmen exclaimed. "Line up in front of the Don!"

Tifa and Aeris took their places. Reluctantly, Cloud walked over to his spot in the middle, and gulped hard. This was a mission, he reminded himself. Nothing more, nothing less. Besides, what were the odds that the Don would pick him anyway?

Don Corneo jumped off his throne and leant across his desk, as if he was trying to get a closer look. Cloud swore he could see him salivating. He urged himself to look away.

"Hmmm! Good, splendid!" the Don cheered.

The perverted old man leapt off the desk and onto the floor. There was a loud thud. He stood in front of Aeris, inspecting her from head to toe, a sick smile on his face and his eyes full of lust.

"Now, let's see…" he panted. "Which girl should I choose? Hmm… hmm!"

He strode towards Cloud and bent over to inspect him up close.

"This one?"

He licked his lips lustfully and then made his way to Tifa.

"Or this one?"

He inspected Tifa for some time, hemming and hawing, before standing in front of Cloud again. He had a very bad feeling about this. Very, very bad.

"Woo-hoo, I've made up my mind!" the Don declared, his voice as loud as a rocket. He jumped up and down on the spot. "My choice for tonight is… this healthy-looking girl!"

No. No. NO. This couldn't be happening.

"Wa, wait a sec!" Cloud cried. "I mean, uh, please wait a moment!"

"Woo-hoo!" the Don squealed, sounding like a kid in a sweet shop. "I love chickies who play hard-to-get! Yeowza!"

He turned to his lackeys who were stood either side of his desk.

"You can have the other ones!"

"Yes, sir!" they both said in unison. "Thank you sir!"

He faced Cloud again.

"Well then, shall we go my pretty!?"

In a panic, Cloud looked towards his female comrades for support. They both gave him a nod. Not the most helpful. Perhaps they had some sort of plan. He sure hoped so!

Cloud reluctantly followed Don Corneo to his bedroom. Bright purple lights dazzled him as he entered. They made the red and gold décor shine vibrantly. His bed was a king-size. The Don jumped onto the mattress and began panting like a dog.

_What a pervert!_ Cloud thought.

"Ahh, we're finally alone…," Don Corneo whispered seductively. "All right, pussycat…" he bellowed suddenly. "Come to daddy!"

Cloud, not quite believing what he was doing, skulked over to the Don. All of his instincts were telling him to keep his distance, but his head was thinking meticulously – the Don might pick up that something was wrong if he stayed in one spot.

"You're so cute, I never get tired of looking at you," the Don cooed. "Do you… like me, too?"

How the heck did he answer this? Did he play along, or did he start the interrogation prematurely, without aid?

"Of course!" Cloud cried, favouring the former, his voice wavering unwillingly. He could feel a lump in his throat. He gulped hard.

"You sure do know how to make a guy feel good! Then, wh… what do you want to DO?"

"Whatever YOU want, daddy," Cloud replied.

_Hurry up, you too! I can't do this much longer!_

"Oh man! I can't stand it! All right, then…"

The Don jumped towards Cloud as quick as lightning, his eyes gleaming. He grinned, showing off his pure white, newly bleached teeth. He looked mad. How could any girl be turned on by that? Or maybe this was the kind of thing girls were looking for these days. They were hard to understand after all…

"Give me a kiss!" the Don belted out. "A KISS!"

The Don puckered up his lips so tightly that they seemed to turn white. It was a grotesque sight and made Cloud's stomach do loops.

"…All right," Cloud said, after a pause, disgusted with himself. He wasn't actually intending to do it, but saying no to the man wasn't an option either. He didn't seem like the kind of guy you would want to get on the wrong side of. Hopefully he'd have some company very soon. He'd just have to find a way of holding off for now.

He leaned in very slowly, not taking his eyes off the grotesque pair of lips that were now making sucking sounds. As he got closer he could smell an unsavoury aroma of mint and stale cigars, as well as feel a warm gust of air as the Don exhaled through his nose. He was going to puke any moment. He was sure of it. He backed away, but not too much, otherwise he might arouse the Don's suspicions. He held his breath this time, and leaned in again.

_Hurry up you pair! Please!_

"Just a minute!" came a girl's voice.

Don Corneo whipped his head around to the source of the noise, and then his whole, flabby body. Cloud stepped back a little and took a deep breath.

"Wha… what the hell?" the Don gasped. "Who goes there!?"

"Cloud…" Tifa muttered. "Were you really…"

He shook his head vehemently. What was she thinking? Of course he wouldn't have really kissed the Don! He strode over to the girls and, quick as a flash, ripped off his wig and dress, revealing his normal clothes beneath.

"A man!?" yelped Don Corneo, looking rather agape. "What's goin' on?"

They rushed towards the Don.

"Shut up, we're asking the questions now…" Tifa barked. "What did your assistants find out? Talk! If you don't tell us…"

Cloud leaned over the bed towards the Don, his eyes as narrow as slits.

"…I'll chop them off," he hissed, grimacing.

He let out a frightened yelp and jumped backwards on his butt, almost falling off the other side of the bed.

"No! Not that!" he gasped. "I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"

"So… talk," said Tifa impatiently.

"I made 'em find out where the man with the gun-arm was. But that's what I was ordered to do."

"By who?" Tifa enquired.

"No-! If I told you that, I'd be killed!"

"Talk!" Tifa roared. "If you don't tell us…"

Aeris leant in close. Suddenly, her gentle aqua coloured eyes looked fierce.

"…I'll rip them off," she said through gritted teeth.

Don Corneo let out an agonising wail and inched a little further back.

"It was Heidegger of Shinra!"

The trio shot him annoyed glances.

"Heidegger, the head of Public Safety Maintenance!" he admitted.

"The head of Public Safety Maintenance!?" Cloud exclaimed. He was initially shocked, but this was Shinra, where every one of its workers was corrupt in one way or another. He was no longer surprised.

"Did you say the Shinra!?" Tifa yelled. "What are they up to?! Talk! If you don't tell us…" – She leaned towards the Don as far as she could – "… I'll smash them."

The Don started to squeal like a pig.

"You're serious, aren't you… ohboy, ohbooy, ohboy."

He cleared his throat and a smirk crept onto his face.

"I'm not fooling around here either, you know. Shinra's trying to crush a small rebel group called AVALANCHE, and want to infiltrate their hideout. And they're really going to crush them… literally." His smirk grew wider. "By breaking the support holding up the plate above them."

"Break the support!?" Tifa cried out in shock. She clasped a white knuckled hand to her mouth.

"You know what's going to happen?" Don Corneo said with a massive grin. "The plate'll go PING and everything's gonna go BAMMM! I heard their hideout's in the Sector 7 Slums…" He gave a relieved sigh, still with an insanely massive grin etched upon his fat face. "I'm just glad it's not here in Sector 6."

Tifa shook her head, as if in disbelief.

"They're going to wipe out the Sector 7 Slums!?" she wailed. "Cloud, will you come with me to Sector 7?"

"Of course, Tifa," he replied, trying to keep his composure.

Inside, he was fuming. He knew Shinra could sink to dark depths, but this? For ONE rebel group? How many lives would be lost, ruined? It was true; Shinra didn't care about anything or anybody. As long as they were gaining power and getting richer, they were happy.

They all turned to leave.

"Just a second!" Don Corneo shouted when they were at the foot of the bed.

"Shut up!" Cloud hissed.

"No wait, It'll only take a second. How do you think scum like me feels when they babble on about the truth?"

"They're sure they'll win," Cloud stated, without much thought. What was this, a game?

"Woo-hoo! Right!" he yelled.

Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet opened up, and Cloud was falling.


	24. Corruption

Heidegger sauntered towards President Shinra, feeling extremely smug about himself. He was, quite frankly, the best of the best. Nothing ever went wrong when he was in charge. he was also clever, sharp-minded _and_ sharp-tongued, and a great leader. Nothing was ever good enough for _him_ though, he thought, shooting an acrid, but carefully discreet glance towards the President. It didn't matter though. He was just jealous. President or not, it didn't mean one had to be good at one's job. And frankly, Heidegger thought, he most definitely was not.

"How are the preparations going?" the President asked, his voice peppered with dissatisfaction already.

Heidegger let out a huge, bellowing laugh, hiding his contempt.

"Smoothly!" he boomed. "Very smoothly! I assigned the Turks to this."

A Turk, known as Reeve, stood to the side of the President's desk wearing a taut expression. What was his problem, Heidegger wondered.

"President!" Reeve gasped. "Are we really going to do this? Simply destroy a group with only a few members…?"

The President arched an eyebrow and let out a disappointed sigh.

"What's the problem, Reeve? You want out?" President Shinra asked as he gathered up some papers, stood up and slowly walked from behind his enormous desk.

Reeve cleared his throat and shuffled on his feet.

"But, as head of the Urban Development Department, I have been involved in the building and running of Midgar. That's why…"

"Reeve," interrupted Heidegger, "you should flush those personal problems in the morning!"

If there was one thing he hated more than anything, it was people being too sensitive.

"The Mayor's against this anyway…" Reeve continued.

"Mayor?" Heidegger jeered as he turned his back and began a slow walk back to the front door. "He just sits in this building all day feeding his face! You still call that a Mayor?"

He swivelled on the spot and saluted the President.

"Now if you'll excuse me sir!" he bellowed, laughing his way out of the front door.

* * *

><p>Reeve was furious! He hated that hairy-faced fat bastard! Always mocking, always yelling, always being rude to everybody, and that bloody horse laugh of his was enough to drive anybody to jump off the top of the plate!<p>

He got the idea that Heidegger fancied being the President himself. Like _that_ was ever going to happen. Elena would have more of a chance than him!

Reeve rushed after Heidegger, fists flailing.

"You're tired," the President called after him. "Why don't you take a couple of days off and go somewhere?"

Reeve ignored him. President Shinra did not believe in sympathy, and was just afraid that he, Reeve, would quake under the pressure and ruin everything.

He went to walk off, but the President divulged his catastrophic plans to him regardless.

"We'll destroy Sector 7 and report that AVALANCHE did it. Then we'll send in the rescue operation care of Shinra…" He laughed deliciously. "This is perfect."


	25. In the Sewers

Cloud tumbled through the air. Tifa and Aeris were by his side, screaming wildly. He had no idea where they would end up, or even if they would survive the fall. Besides, he'd already had one lucky escape. How many more times would he fall and come out unscathed?

His feet finally touched solid ground. He skidded through a sheet of inch-thick water, stuck his hands out to get some stability, and was able to keep himself up-right. He looked around and found Tifa and Aeris lying face down in the water.

"You alright?" Cloud asked, as he quickly helped Tifa to her feet.

"Man!" cried Tifa, flicking bits of sludge off her clothes and sniffing the air disgustedly. "This is terrible."

She was alright. She wouldn't be moaning about trivial things if she wasn't. He went over to Aeris and helped her to her feet.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," Aeris replied, quietly.

She appeared a little dazed, but otherwise alright.

"Well, the worst is over," she said.

She was clearly overly optimistic. Taking a look at his surroundings, Cloud was able to establish that the worst wasn't over, not by a long shot. They were stood in a stinky sewer with dank, slimy walls and amidst piles and piles of rubbish, some of what appeared to have been discarded years ago. Alarmingly, there didn't appear to be an easy way out. There was no clear exit to the outside world, at least not that he could see. Perhaps there was one just around the corner.

Suddenly, there was a loud, monstrous roar.

Maybe not," Aeris added.

The creature looked just as fearsome as its roar sounded. It was electric blue in colour and its huge arms rippled with muscles as they flexed and relaxed. Cloud likened the beast to some sort of mutated wolf, judging by the way it stood on its haunches, and also by its snout, which was distinctly canine. Huge horns protruded from its head, each one tapering to a sharp, deadly point. Cloud could assume that this was not canine, but was in fact some kind of hideous hybrid, a mixture of who knows what.

Was it someone's pet, he wondered, as he looked at its forearms and saw chains dangling from them? Who in their right mind would want to try and tame something so hideously brutal? Perhaps their intention was not to tame it…

The beast went in for the kill almost instantly, slashing at Tifa with its enormous claws. She hit back with a succession of powerful punches, and concluded with her limit break, which was a combination of punches, kicks and graceful yet deadly manoeuvres. She flicked back her hair and stared the beast down, while Aeris unleashed a fire spell at it.

"Take that!" she hissed.

The beast roared and unleashed the power of water, an element it seemed able to command on instinct. A torrent of filthy sewer water came towards them, instantly knocking them off their feet. Cloud took a mouthful of the disgusting liquid and coughed and gagged. He looked behind him to see the girls scrambling to their feet. Whipping his head round, he was able to see, just in time, the brute's ripped arm coming towards him and dodged it accordingly. Then, he went in for the kill and unleashed a sword attack, cutting through the beast from left to right. It gave a final, pitiful roar and dropped to the floor, dead.

They quickly gathered their strength, because time was not on their side. Cloud could only hope that the beast was alone down here.

"It's too late…" cried Tifa, gesticulating with her hands. "Marlene… Barret… the people of the Slums."

"Don't give up," Aeris encouraged. "Never give up hope. It's not easy to destroy the pillar, right?"

"Yeah… you're right!" Tifa exclaimed, hope shining in her voice. "We still have time."

They traversed through the sewers; down winding paths and through long, narrow tunnels. There were a few creatures here, but nothing like the wolf-rhino hybrid they fought earlier. Cloud was able to cut through them easily.

They eventually came to a ladder that lead up to the surface. As he climbed out of the manhole and looked around to survey his surroundings, he found that he was at the Train Graveyard. He'd been here before, but it was a long time ago. Not much had changed, though. Long abandoned trains lay scattered atop the ground, infested with ghosts and other creatures of the paranormal, as well as those that were corporeal. Nothing but pests, really.

It was hard to navigate. It was a metropolis of broken metal, rotting carriages, twisting railroad tracks and mounds of debris, piled dangerously high.

"Aeris," Cloud said, turning towards her. "I got you mixed up in all of this…"

"Don't tell me to go home," said Aeris, putting her hands on her hips.

Tifa interrupted them, putting an end to the impending disagreement.

"Let's see…," she began, taking a swift glance at the location. "If we can just get past the trains that are lit up, we should be able to get out of here."

Following Tifa's advice, the trio were quickly able to navigate through the mass of metal. The tougher part was having to deal with hordes of monsters. They were easy to defeat, but the place was infested with them, and it was time consuming, and time was not on their side right now.

Rushed and out of breath, Cloud and the girls raced through the train station and towards the pillar. To his relief, the pillar was undamaged, but for how long?

Tifa couldn't contain herself, and who could blame her? This slum was a part of her livelihood.

"We made it!" she yelled. "The pillar's standing!"

"Wait!" Cloud shouted, putting a hand up to quieten her. "You hear something… above us?"

"Gun fire?" Aeris asked, alarmingly.

It most definitely was. There was no mistaking the sound of Barret's gun arm. Cloud looked up and could see flashes of bright light and a hulking black man shaking furiously as he unleashed each bullet. What the heck was he playing at? Did Cloud go up there and try to stop him, or did he wait down here and do nothing?

Suddenly, someone screamed. Cloud darted his eyes to his left just in time to see a person dressed in red fall through the sky. A second later there was a meaty thud behind him as the person slammed into the ground. It was Wedge!

Everyone came running, including passers by and those who were watching the peril above. Cloud leant over Wedge.

"Wedge! You all right!?" Cloud asked, unable to contain the panic in his voice.

"… Cloud…" murmured Wedge as he struggled to breathe. "You remembered… my name. Barret's up top… help him… An' Cloud… sorry, I wasn't any help."

Wedge fell into unconsciousness. Cloud stood up and faced the crowd.

"I'm going up!" declared Cloud. "Aeris! You look after Wedge."

She nodded.

"Aeris, do me a favour," said Tifa. "I have a bar called 7th Heaven in this neighbourhood. There's a little girl named Marlene there…"

"Don't worry. I'll put her somewhere safe."

Tifa turned to the crowd that had gathered.

"It's dangerous here!" she yelled. "Everyone get away from the pillar, quickly! Everyone get out of Sector 7!"

The crowd dispersed like flies once that Tifa had drummed it into their heads that this was real, and wasn't a spectator sport.

Leaving Aeris alone to look after Wedge, Cloud and Tifa entered the base of the pillar and started to ascend it, neither of them knowing what dangers might lie ahead.


End file.
